Silver And Bronze: Conspiracy of the Shapeshifter
by EnchantedLucy
Summary: This is a book I'm working on! I am using my OC, Susan Henkel and her family. I hope you like it and flames will be used to cook my dinner :3
1. Prolougue

Silver and Bronze

The Conspiracy of the Shape shifter

Prologue

It was a cloudy day on September 1st, 1993. A young girl walked into Diagon Alley unaware that pursuing magic would be her family's undoing. Over the course of the next handful of years, she would go from being a member of one, big, happy family to an orphan who would have no family to call her own. And had she chosen to pursue muggle life instead, it would have never happened. But all of this she was unaware of.

She skipped merrily into the shop as if she didn't have a care in the world. This girl wore clothing that would raise eyebrows everywhere. She wore a rainbow turtleneck with sleeves that were poorly cut off above the elbow and a red tutu skirt with white suspenders that had poorly drawn on hearts. Underneath the skirt were jean leggings that had poorly sewn on patches of unclear shapes, most of which within the spectrum of pink. On her feet she had teal worn out converse with dirty laces.

She opened a slightly torn envelope, took out a list and approached the counter. "Excuse me, miss. Do you have any of these books?" A woman turned around and looked at the young girl. This woman had ginger hair with a freckled face. Her face was soft, but with an edge. She was a little on the deathly skinny side. Her name tag read "Carol Strong".

The little girl placed the list on the counter and giggled. The woman gave a bit of a snooty look and said, "Of course we do." The girl simply ignored the harsh aura this woman was giving off. She was used to getting it from her own mother.

The little girl looked down and noticed the counter was at her neck. It's true. She was not tall at all. She was barley 4 feet.

As she waited for her books, a man with Aryan features and a boy whom was his spitting image walked into the shoppe. Yes, it was Lucius Malfoy and his son, Draco. The little girl didn't even notice the two as the saleswoman placed the books on the counter.

The little girl paid for them, and reached for them with her little chubby arms. When she finally got them, she was struggling with them. It was a short stack, but it was still too much for the poor thing.

Draco watched her and was quite entertained with her struggling. As he was stifling laughter, Lucius walked over to him, after having apparently talked with the saleswoman. "Draco!" He hissed through his teeth. "Do you realize how distasteful it is to laugh at another's failures? Are you forgetting we have a reputation to uphold?" Lucius gave Draco a nudge with his cane and by this time the girl had left the shoppe and was looking for a place nearby where she could sit down. She had found a bench outside of the "Magical Menagerie" shoppe


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter I: The Journey Unravels

It was her first year at Hogwarts School for witchcraft and wizardry. Susan Henkel sat eagerly on a bench waiting for her sister, Rosemary to return with the first year chemistry set she would need as a student at Hogwarts. "Did someone order a first year chemistry set?" Susan yelled and jumped with joy as she sprinted towards the next shop to obtain a crucial thing needed to perform magic.

A wand.

Susan eagerly followed her sister and even had to be held by her hand to avoid a mishap where she would be lost. But containing her would prove more difficult that can be done once they neared the shoppe where she would purchase her main tool for sorcery. "I'm gonna be a wizard!" she shouted as she sprinted into the shop like a wild animal.

Her short, boyish hair tussled in the wind like grass in a storm. Indeed, her hair was never all that neat. She would always have stray hair no matter how she wore it. It was never quite clear whether her hair was black, dark brown, or a very dark auburn. It always looked different, depending on the lighting. Her skin was not sickly pale unlike most of the students. She had a healthy, rosy, peach skin tone. She also wore a strawberry barrette that was slipping out of her hair slowly but surely. It always fell out, no matter what. Just like her crooked glasses, which were constantly fogging up due to the weather, it was something she just learned to ignore.

By the time she got into the shoppe, her sister was far behind her. "One wand, please!" she shouted. The shoppe owner cried out in a startled yell and fell onto the floor. "Are you alright?" she asked sprinting toward him. He got up, brushed himself off, and approached Susan. "You certainly are the eager mcbeaver, aren't you?" Susan smiled, but she had a one track mind at that point. "Do I get my wand now?" The shoppe keeper smiled and said "Of course!" Susan jumped with joy and her sister entered the shoppe out of breath entirely.

"Rosemary! It's been so long. Who's your friend?" Rosemary looked at Olivander like this was a joke and shook her head. "This is my sister, Susan. But it's nice to see you again, Olivander." Rosemary turned to Susan as if to chew her out. "Don't do that again, okay?" Susan nodded and quickly tuned to Olivander. "Right this way then." he said. The trio went into a storage hall filled with wands. It was almost as if this was the place where wands were being made. Were they? Who knows? Susan promptly waved the first wand Olivander gave to her.

Items were thrown around. Smoke was emitted. It was all just trial and error and chaos as they went through eleven different wands before the right one could be found. When the finally found the wand that Susan would wield as a wizard for the rest of her days, Susan was shaking. If you could even call it "finding" the wand. A slight jiggle was being heard in the shelves, then a box came flying toward Susan. It hit her right in the back of the head and knocked her down. "Ow! What the blimey fuck?" Olivander looked in astonishment at her mouth and Rosemary gave her a scowl. It seems like she would, too. After all, she was wearing a button up shirt with a burgundy cardigan sweater and an ankle length skirt to match. Her hair was tidy and held in a hairband. She wore no jewelry or make up. It was clear that Rosemary was very conservative. Susan was unable to pick up on anything that was going on, so she pulled the red ribbon off the black box. It didn't seem like it was being presented as a gift, but rather, being held inside it's box. Nevertheless, she opened it, and examined the wand within. It was a long thin wand with rough edges and was all white. Unlike any wand she had heard about or that her family had wielded. She waved the wand and flinched. It shot a direct beam of black light towards the wall. The beam was absorbed and the wall glowed for a few seconds before it subsided. Susan could not contain her excitement. "I did it!" she shouted.

Olivander looked with astonishment. "That wand is a ten inch dullahan's bone. From Black Rose Wood. Only reserved for the most special wizards." Rosemary looked at Olivander. He looked more worried than anything else. She knew as much as he did that wizards don't choose wands. Wands choose the wizards. "But who in Merlin's name would craft a wand from a Dullahan's bone? Aren't they nearly extinct?" Olivander raised a brow at her question. Perhaps this was common knowledge to him, but to her it was a foreign concept. "Why, my dear, this is exactly WHY they're endangered. Wand crafting with bones of a Dullahan has been outlawed and the species has been protected, all though, existing wands have not been confiscated. Merlin knows why."

"Please can we get it, sis? Please?" Rosemary sighed and nodded her head. She knew that she was only going to start an argument if she said no. Susan jumped with joy and went up to the counter to purchase her precious tool. It was registered as "BLACK ROSE 10" DULLAHAN'S BONE" on the certificate. "This wand is official property of Witch Susan Henkel."

"How much?" asked Rosemary. Olivander gave a vibe of panic. "Oh, no no no no no no. No charge, for a pair of lovely ladies like yourself." It was evident that he was trying to get rid of it, but he didn't want any evidence of it being there to begin with.

The 11-year-old Susan bolted out of the shoppe as an extremely happy little girl. "Wait right here." Rosemary walked into a washroom, came out wearing a black uniform with a blue and grey tie and a black school robe with a matching jumper and below the knee skirt with a pointed hat. She handed Susan a bundle of black clothing. Susan looked in confusion. "What's with these rather queer looking threads?" "That's your uniform. Go change in that washroom." While Susan didn't want to change her clothes in a public washroom, she had no choice. She simply ran in, changed, and came right out. It was uniform that looked exactly the same as Rosemary's.

Rosemary presented her with a sweet, lest she complain endlessly of her experience in there. Susan brutally unwrapped it and began eating.

"It's almost time for us to get on our train." "Okay sis. What platform are we on?" Rosemary handed her a card. "We're Platform Nine and Three Quarters." Susan looked at Rosemary in disbelief. "What kind of queer platform is that?" "The one that gets us to the school. It has been for 3 years for me." Susan still had a look of disbelief, but she still decided to go along with it.

Once she got to the platform, which did in fact exist, she noticed something crucial was missing. "Where's the train?" she asked. Rosemary smiled. "Now, what you're going to do is run straight through that wall to get on the train." Susan was completely put off. "Like hell I am! You're gonna make a fool out of me! I won't do it!" Rosemary sighed and looked at another student. This student seemed a bit odd, but beggars can't be choosers. "Excuse me. My little sister is scared to go through. Would you mind going through and showing her it's safe?" The student smiled and held out her hand. "Certainly. My name is Luna Lovegood. And who might I be acquainting myself with?" "My name is Rosemary Henkel, and this is my little sister, Susan. This is her first year at Hogwarts." Luna knelt down to Susan's level with a reassuring look. "It's completely safe." Susan still looked a little frightened. Probably because to her, this girl seemed like she was certifiably insane. Naturally, her credibility seemed little to none and the things she said didn't seem reassuring.

Luna smiled, stood up and firmly grabbed her belongings. "Wish me luck, daddy." Luna's father smiled and waved her off. "I'll see you on the other side," he said. Luna then turned to Susan. "Do this exactly." Luna stood straight, gripping her belongings firmly and then ran straight through the platform. Susan looked in complete awe. "Me next! Me next! I wanna do it, now!" Rosemary smiled and said, "Go on, then." Susan shouted a huge joyous sound and mimicked Luna's exact movement, until she got halfway in the platform and just stopped. "See you on the other side, Rosie!" Rosemary yelled out in terror. "Idiot! Go all the way through! Don't just stop half way!" Susan looked in confusion and before she could react was sucked through the platform.

As her yells faded away, Rosemary looked in complete shock. "I am incredibly worried." Luna's dad gave Rosemary a reassuring look. "Don't worry. She'll be fine. My daughter used to be just like her. Come to think of it, she's still just like her." Rosemary felt slightly reassured although for the most part was still very worried. Rosemary quickly began to panic. The man quickly went to comfort her. "Hey, you're going in after her, right? We're not going anywhere just yet." Rosemary nodded and felt much more reassured.

"My name is Xenophilous Lovegood." Rosemary looked in shock. "The Xenophilous Lovegood?" Xenophilous chuckled for a bit. "Who else would I be?"

Rosemary's nostalgic childhood quickly possessed her. "You were on that show The Alchemist's Hour!" Xenophilous looked in shock. That show hasn't been on T.V. since 1984. It was cancelled due to poor ratings. "You've seen that show?" "I'm your biggest fan! I've always dreamed of meeting you in person. I also read 'The Quibbler'. No, I eat, sleep and breathe 'The Quibbler'! Oh my, this is stupid. That chapter of my life should have been over when I was 5. I'm 14 now! Oh but I've spent so much money on merchandise in my childhood and I still have all of it. You must think I'm insane."

Xenophilous laughed. "Not one bit, Miss Rosemary. You're quite normal to me." Rosemary chuckled, altogether abandoning any thoughts of her sister. "I think children that attend Hogwarts have a quirk of their own each. Everyone's a little dotty."

All of the sudden, thunder barged in and rolled over furiously. Xenophilous looked at his idolizer. "I think it's going to storm. It's been cloudy all day." Rosemary smiled. "I hope Susan will be okay away from home. She's a bit of an imp." Xenophilous looked at Rosemary, as if to comfort her. "She'll be okay. I know what it's like to worry about a loved one whom you can't watch over anymore. Especially when she has a tendency to get into trouble. Believe me. At least you're able to watch over your sister."

While Luna and Susan are 2 completely different people, they are very similar in person. Luna has probably done the same thing or something very alike in her first year. Rosemary felt much more reassured, as Luna was very much alive and well.

"Oh blimey! Look at the time! I'll miss the damn train!" Rosemary hurried through the platform and Xenophilous went after her. He could tell how high strung she was, considering the train wasn't scheduled to leave for 15 more minutes.

On the other side, a girl with wavy dark red hair and an innocent looking face with blue eyes and a man whom was cross-eyed and had shoulder length white hair which was the texture of candyfloss popped out. "Susan! Thank Merlin you're alright!" Luna was helping Susan regather her belongings which had all fallen out of her trunk. She waved her wand using a spell she had learned from her mother to make sure nothing was missing in the event that this happened. Low and behold, a sock found it's way to the trunk. Rosemary walked over and grabbed Susan by her collar. "Can't you stay out of trouble for five minutes! You had me scared to death! For Merlin's sake! Try not to do anything stupid while you're at Hogwarts! You-won't-last!" Susan didn't seemed to be listening. "Rosemary, that hurts!" she whined. Rosemary let her go and said "Let's just get on the train." Susan made sure all her belongings were collected and hopped onto the scarlet coloured engine. Next came Rosemary after her, then Luna. After a few minutes, the train hissed and took off.

As clouds advanced over the train station, it began to drizzle slightly. The storm, however, had already started in the wizard world.

On the train, there was a sudden jolt that came from a bookbag. Susan yelped , fell down, and landed on another passenger from which the bookbag came. "Get off me!" Susan rose up. "Sorry!" A slightly plump but attractive young blonde boy stood up. Susan smiled and held out her hand. "My name is Susan Henkel!" The boy shook her hand. "Neville. Neville Longbottom." Susan chuckled. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Longbottom." Neville took his seat and in walked an estranged young blonde whom Susan was familiar with. "You're the girl who helped me earlier. Luna, was it?" Luna smiled. "Glad to see you're okay." Neville looked in question, as this girl was unquestionably odd, but decided to brush it off simply because she seemed interesting.

Susan decided to change the subject "My mum is actually a professor at this school." Luna smiled. "Oh is she? What subject does she teach?" Susan smiled. "She's an alchemy teacher." Luna smiled. "I'm taking alchemy this year, so I'll definitely say hi when I see her." Susan smiled. "What do your parents do?" Luna smiled and giggled. "My dad is a wizard," she said. Susan smiled. "My dad is a muggle actor." Luna giggled. "So you're a half-blood?" she asked. Susan nodded while fixing her strawberry barrette. She then turned to Neville. "What about your parents?" Neville gave a quick shrug of the shoulders and said nothing. Susan laughed. "Don't be silly. Come on. You're not excluded from the conversation or anything." Neville simply hung his head and didn't say anything. Susan looked while laughing. "Why the long face?" Neville quickly scowled at her. "BACK OFF!" Susan looked with astonishment. "Geez', Neville. What's got you all worked up?" Neville sighed. "I'm sorry. I just get really sensitive about my parents." Susan looked with remorse. "Did they pass?" Neville looked away. "They might as well have." Luna began to drift off into a daydream. Susan looked at her. "Are you alright?" Luna nodded her head. "Yeah. I just miss my mum." And with that she stared off into space.

Susan held out her arms like she was a cross. "Group hug, guys. Let's spread some good feelings." Neville almost dog piled on Susan, Luna seemed like she was in need of a wake up call as she joined the hug. The little girl patted their backs. "Ya know, guys, my grandmum passed, too. I know how ya feel." Susan shook off what she just said, smiled and said "I'm gonna go get something to brighten the mood. Be back in a jiff!"

Susan skipped off to the food cart to get some licorice muffins. It's true, they are a bit tart, but they are quite excellent in making happiness in its consumers.

"Bloody. It's pissing cats and dogs out." As Susan approached the cart, the train came to a grinding halt. Susan was thrown forward into the compartment in front of her and the lights all went out. Luggage trunks fell from the top and nearly landed on the girl. "What the hell? Who turned out the lights?" Other passengers expressed the same confusion as her. Susan felt her face and then shifted into panic mode when she noticed her glasses and barrette had fallen off. It wasn't long before she found them, though. Once she put on her barrette and glasses, she saw a figure hunched over and covered some sort of cloak. She rubbed her eyes and was instantly greeted by something terrifying. It was a large floating skeletal figure with seemingly no head. At least the hood of the cloak heavily covered it. No doubt in Susan's mind. It was the Dementors. The same ones whom had been attacking the magical world since Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban in their pursuit of him.

Susan leapt to her feet but quickly fell over. She tried to cry out in the hopes that someone would hear her, but she couldn't. She couldn't even move. She could barely breathe. Only enough to sustain her life. The Dementor reached its long fingers of bone out and ran them through the girl's tussled hair. It fished out a few dark strands of hair from Susan's head. As soon as the Dementor got the strand, it disappeared. Susan watched Dementors come out of different train cars and vanish shortly before she blacked out. Her last conscious thought was what might be done with that hair and what did the Dementors want with something like that


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter II: In A World Anew

Susan awoke the same evening in a manner of disposition. She was on a very worried Rosemary's lap. "Are you alright?" she asked. Susan blinked her eyes. She was shivering. "Fuck! It's so c-cold..." A darker skinned boy opened the door for a man who was grey-faced. "Did they come in here?" he asked. Rosemary looked at him and tugged at Susan's jumper. "They got my little sister." she said. The man sighed. "Better give her this, then." He handed Rosemary a log of chocolate. Susan sat up and shook her head. "I don't much care for chocolate. 'Specially not from strangers." The man laughed. "But I'm no stranger," he stated. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Remus Lupin. I'm the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." Susan hesitantly took the log. "Nice to meet you, Professor Lupin. My name's Susan Henkel and I still don't like chocolate." she said. "A woman who doesn't like chocolate? That's impossible!" Remus proclaimed. "Come on. Just a bite won't hurt. You'll feel better." It's true. Susan was incredibly cold. Like she had been trapped in ice. She wiped some cold sweat off her face and hesitantly took a bite out her chocolate. "There," Remus said. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" Susan could feel the warmth come back to her body, so she began to gobble the chocolate. "So who are you two?" Remus asked. Rosemary held out her hand. "I'm Rosemary. Rosemary Henkel. Susan's older sister." Remus shook hands with Rosemary and turned to the boy next to her. The dark skinned boy held out his hand next said, "I'm Dean. Dean Thomas. I'm her boyfriend. Nice to meet you." Remus smiled. "I'll be going back to my compartment now." With that, he was gone.

Finally, the train landed in Hogsmeade station. "Firs' years this way!" called a voice. Susan popped out and saw a gargantuan man with thick, black bushy hair and a beard to match. Susan's eyes were incredibly wide at this sight. "All righ', you three?" he called over to someone. Susan didn't know whom it was, but she didn't care. As soon as all the first years were on boat, it began sway as it was headed towards a large castle.

Susan got off the boat and followed the rest of the students into the castle. Because she was so small, she was constantly bumped into and trampled. It was frustrating and made Susan extremely uncomfortable. She was almost completely red in the face when she snapped. "MOVE!" she shrieked. Everyone within earshot gave a quizzical look and kept on walking.

Susan looked on in terror as she walked into the castle. It was so... BIG! And she was so... small... She immediately clung onto another first year shaking in terror. "Nervous?" She asked. Susan nodded. "I'm not used to this shit! I was HOME-SCHOOLED!" The girl looked in confusion. "Home-schooled?" she asked. Susan nodded again. "Mum says it's because-a-my ogursive behaviour." The girl raised a brow. "Do you mean aggressive behaviour?" Susan appeard almost to have been insulted. "That's what I friggin' said..." she muttered. The girl decided to simply change the subject. "My name is Cassandra Allavera. Yours?" Susan held out her hand. "Susan. Susan Henkel." They shook hands and they, along with the other first years were lead into the Great Hall.

Susan took a seat next to Cassandra where she was directed to. Susan stifled laughter. "Who's the really old, smelly guy? Is that Santa Clause?" Up stood an old man with purple robes and long sliver hair with a beard to match. It was a man named Albus Dumbledore. The Headmaster of Hogwarts


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter III: The Sorting

Susan looked up at the roof of the Great Hall. She felt almost like an ant in a house. She once again buried her face in Cassandra's chest. She was NOT used to being in huge buildings. Dumbledore was speaking, but Susan was paying no attention. She was far too overcome by what was going on at the moment.

An elderly woman with brown hair wearing dark green robes and a matching hat was standing at the front of the Great Hall. Professor Minerva Mcgonagall was her name. She had a long list of first year students to be sorted. "Attention all first years! When you hear your name being called, come sit on the chair to be sorted by way of this hat. Allavera, Cassandra!" Cassandra stood up and looked at Susan. "Wish me luck!" Susan could barley see a thing because she was so short, so she stared into the abyss of the gargantuan halls and listened. "Hufflepuff!" shouted a voice. There was cheering at one table as Susan could barely glimpse Cassandra sitting at it. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine she was at home in bed. Names were called out, a house was named and there was cheering. It's how it always was. "Greengrass, Astoria!" The young girl moved out of her seat and walked down the hall. She had shoulder length brown hair and green eyes. As she gently sat on the seat, Susan could finally get a view of what was going on. "Hmmmmmmm. Very interesting indeed... Hmmmmmmmmm... Slytherin!" Susan could not believe her eyes. The hat spoke! As her jaw dropped, Susan could only sit there in shock as Astoria went to the Slytherin table. "Henkel, Susan!" Nothing. "Henkel, Susan!" No response. "Henkel, Susan?" Susan finally got a hold of reality and jolted." Oh! That's me!" She got up and walked up to be sorted. Susan's heart was going a mile a minute as she walked up the hall. She felt the same amount of anxiety one must have before execution. Still, Susan convinced herself she could make it in this school, and with that, she sat down. The hat felt as if it weighed a ton, and she could hardly handle the pressure. "Hmmmmmmmmm... This child is a very bright child. Perhaps she would make an excellent addition to Ravenclaw?" Ravenclaw. It was the same house that both her mother and her sister were in. As far as she knew, it would be just one more to the family. With that, Susan did feel some relief. "Hmmmmmmmmmm. Ravenclaw... Ravenclaw... Ravenclaw..." Susan looked over at the Ravenclaw table and could see the students even preparing a seat for her between her sister and some Asian girl who she didn't recognize, although she looked much like her neighbor's girlfriend. Susan felt even more relief that she would be sitting next to a relative. If only the damn hat would just say it already. "Ravenclaw?... Ravenclaw... Hmmmmmmmmmmmm... This child is quite brave... with an iron will... and the heart of a lion... Yet so studious... and brilliant... Ravenclaw? Ravenclaw... Ravenclaw... Hmmmmmmmmm... I've made up my mind... Gryffindor!"

Susan's already naturally gargantuan eyes became as big as dinner plates once she heard the sorting hat say this. Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest. She fell out of the chair and nearly fainted. There was no way, she thought, that she was cut out for such a house. Susan was now trembling so hard; it looked like she was a walking beehive. As Susan walked over to the table, she saw one a whom had ginger red hair, freckles, and hand-me-down robes. "Hi..." she said, still at the brim with anxiety. "Hi," he responded, but he didn't look at her. He was clearly looking around for something. "I'm Susan Henkel," Susan said, offering her trembling hand. Maybe if she gets to know someone here, it'll make things easier. "Ron Weasley," he responded. "PSST!" hissed a boy. "What do you want, Seamus?" asked Ron. "She's trying to shake your blimey hand!" he responded. Great. Now Ron felt embarrassed because now that bloody girl thinks he's ignoring her. "Oh sorry!" he responded with a jolt turning around. "Bloody hell..." he said. "You look just like me..." Susan smiled. "Yeah, I guess. Except my hair's darker and my eyes are bigger and I wear glasses and well, you don't," she responded.

The sorting ended and in came a girl with bushy hazel brown hair and a boy with jet-black hair and green eyes. If Susan were paying an ounce of attention she would have notice that Harry Potter, the boy who lived, was only a couple of seats away from her. "We missed the sorting!" shouted the hazel head. Susan probably would have said something along the lines of "Well no shit, Sherlock Holmes." if she wasn't so overwhelmed by such a massive change. All she really heard was something about a man named Hagrid and magical creatures. Literally. Perhaps if she were to lend a closer ear, she would have learned that Professor Rubeus Hagrid was teaching Care for Magical Creatures. But she was off in her own little world.

"Alright!" Dumbledore announced. "Time for the start-of-term feast!" Suddenly, goblets and platters began filling with all sorts of things. "FOOD!" she shouted, and it was downhill from there. She gobbled and chomped. She looked almost like a pig. It could be said that she's a nervous eater, but though she seemed to have less anxiety, she almost seemed a bit greedy. She ate and ate, until her chubby little belly could take no more. There was a tiny clatter on the table, and she noticed her barrette fell out. She placed it back in and leaned in the chair.

After dinner, Susan learned that her things have been transported by way of magic, to her dorm. Susan went along with the other newly sorted Gryffindors, as well as previous Gryffindors to a strange painting on a wall. What on earth was this painting here for? "Password?" Susan simply saw this as another surprise... The painting spoke... Considering all of the things she had been through today, this was just another thing. "Fortuna Major" She heard one person say. The painting opened a passageway, and yet again, since so many things took Susan by surprise before, she simply calmly went with it. The element of surprise has been done to death. Or at lease, the food was going to her head and making it numb. It wasn't uncommon for Susan to have "the itis" as it was called in urban culture.

Once inside the common room Susan stared in awe, but said nothing. "So where's my room?" Suddenly, the hazel-haired girl approached her and smiled. "Excuse me, miss. Do you think Crookshanks is a monster? I just-." There at the girl's feet was a large orange cat that looked very well fed. The girl became wide-eyed. She knew Susan somehow and was surprised she was here. Susan wanted to give the girl a look like she was insane, but instead gave a smile to the cat. "Hello there, Crookshanks! And hello, Hermione. Fancy seeing you here! I didn't know you were a witch." As Susan shook his paw, he gave a sort of heavy meow. "I wouldn't say you're cat's a monster. I didn't even know you had a cat. Why?" Susan asked. "Well my friend said that any old person would mistake Crookshanks for a monster! That'll teach him!" Susan at the moment, wanted to find this person and give them the biggest high-five in the world, but she was someone who stands by what she says, even if she doesn't mean it. "Well let's find our rooms, then."

Hermione knew Susan because her father was Susan's dentist. When she was younger, Susan had a bad habit of biting. If Dr. Granger tried to give her a shot, she would hide under the receptionist's desk and say the elves took her away. Hermione would come to her father's office occasionally and try to reason with Susan, but that became harder once she started going to Hogwarts. Hermione's parents never could say where she was going for obvious reasons, but now she knew for herself.

As Susan went along, she was soon to discover that Hermione and herself were roommates. As they opened the door, Hermione saw her trunk neatly placed on her bed. Susan saw her trunk on the top bunk flailed with joy. "Yes! I got the top bunk! Woot!" Hermione smiled and began unpacking her trunk. Susan climbed the ladder, nearly falling off in the process, and grabbed her trunk to begin unpacking. Hermione noticed something distinct about her trunk. It was covered in bumper stickers and had green piping on the handles with a bell on the end. Hermione laughed. "What's with your trunk?" Susan smiled and opened it, causing the bell to ring. "Well it's to keep the nargles away. Nargles hate loud noises." Hermione looked in shock. "Nargles?" Susan nodded. "They've taken my things back at home, but I always find them. They live in the mistletoe, so I always wear butterbeer lipgloss on Christmas." Hermione just looked awkwardly. Now Susan had a person to engage in girl talk with, since Minerva clearly explained at the sorting that loitering was against the rules. With that, Susan unpacked, changed into her pajamas, and went to bed


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter IV: The First Day

"Susan! Wake up!" Susan pulled the covers over her head and groaned. Hermione pulled them off. "Susan! Get up! We need to head down to breakfast in 30 minutes and you aren't even dressed! Wake up!" Only moans and groans came from the bed. "Susan, wake up!" Susan balled up into fettle position hugging her pillow. Hermione was now red in the face. She grabbed Susan's ankles and dragged her out of the bed. Susan yelped and stood up. "Okay, I'm up." Hermione looked at her with a sense of satisfaction, but she was still uptight as ever. "Good. Now get ready."

Susan opened her dresser for her uniform. "You're one to talk. You've still got a bed head." Hermione looked at her frizzy hair through a window and became even redder. "I'll have you know my hair is always like this!" Susan giggled a bit and smiled. "Aww hell. Just put some lotion in it. It'll lie down some." Susan said reassuringly as she reached in her drawer and took out a black tie. As soon as her tie was on, she put on a grey jumper. She then reached in her closet and pulled out a black robe and a pointed hat.

As soon as her uniform was completely on, she reached into a periwinkle jewellery box that had a bunch of bones stickers on it. Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Cute box." Susan smiled. "Thanks. It keeps away the bloody nargles." Hermione shook her head. "Susan, don't swear." Susan simply stuck out her tongue. "Susan!" Hermione called sternly to which Susan gave more back talk. "Nyeh! I like swearing!" Hermione was once again red in the face. "And just what would you like about that?" she demanded. "It's bloody damn fun!" Susan declared. Hermione simply groaned knowing she was not going to win this round, but mark her words she would clean her roommate's mouth, should it be the last thing she ever does.

Susan opened the box and an unfamiliar tune began to play. It sounded like a lullaby, but so sullen. So absolutely sad. It was a tear inducing melody. Susan held the box close to her head for a moment and just listened. Hermione just stared. Susan wasn't listening in sadness. More or less, admiration for this melody. Once it was over, Susan looked like she had just woken up from a deep sleep. She seemed like she was in an entirely different state of mind. Hermione glanced at the music box. "Oasis" was engraved in a gold plate at the top. She could also see hints of white on the inside. It had been painted periwinkle. She also saw glue residue underneath some pink velvet. It was very clear that Susan did this herself. She reached inside the box and took out a pair of dangly glass earrings. Hermione looked at them and then at Susan. "Pretty earrings." Susan giggled a bit. "Thanks. They keep away the whackspurts." Hermione raised a brow. "Whackspurts? Don't you mean wrackspurts?" Susan nodded. "That's what I said."

Hermione looked sort of uncomfortable. Not with her belief in such things like nargles or wrackspurts, but because they were so different from each other, and Susan didn't seem all too easy to get along with. And on top of it all, they were ROOMMATES. Nonetheless, Hermione wasn't gonna let a thing like this stand in her way. Maybe she isn't impossible to get along with. To her, they just needed to find common ground. "So, I heard your mother's a Professor here." Susan gave a slight thumbs up as she tied ribbons around her pigtails. Since her hair was so short, there was more ribbon than hair. "Piece de resistance..." she muttered as she placed her pointed hat onto her head.

From there, She and Hermione went their separate ways. Susan sat at the breakfast table with her acquaintance, Neville. "Mornin'!" she yelped. Neville jolted in shock and spilled his orange juice all over himself. "Oh no..." he thought. "No worries!" she shouted. Susan was now attracting unnecessary attention to both herself and Neville, whom was now looking incredibly embarrassed. Although, there weren't too many onlookers, as people were still discussing Harry Potter's little dementor encounter.

Susan loudly chanted a spell, and the stain was gone. "All better?" she asked smiling. Neville, without even observing his new crisp, clean clothes, simply shrugged his shoulders.

Once breakfast was over, Susan licked her lips while she navigated through the gargantuan crowd of uniformed students. She savoured her Butterbeer lip gloss; it was a shameful pleasure, and one that her mother looked down upon, as she wouldn't allow her to have butter. The young witch could hardly wait until she was older to visit Hogsmeade and go to the Three Broomsticks… Her mum said once she went to Hogsmeade, she could have all the butterbeer she could drink... She squeezed past a peculiar pair of tall ginger twins, pulling her bag behind her carefully; to Potions, now. Where was this place? The Dungeons? Isn't it primitive of a school to have a dungeon? She couldn't linger on her thoughts for long because she could barely make her way down the moving staircases without getting hopelessly lost. It was frustrating to her because there was clearly no way anybody could find anything in this place. Well thank god she only had a few classes today, anyway... But on the subject, she considered while adjusting her glasses, how in Merlin's name did Hermione have so many classes? Was it part of the third-year curriculum to take them all? If that as the case, Susan may be headed for a complete nightmare. When would she have time for Hogsmeade? It just goes to show, nothing comes anyone's way without strings attached.

Susan's thoughts came to an abrupt halt when she lost her balance and nearly fell down the stairs. Maybe wearing nineteenth century school shoes wasn't such a smart idea. Perhaps it was by the grace of Merlin that she was suddenly caught by a girl with dark brown wavy hair. "Are you all right?" she asked. Susan took one look at the girl and inferred that they had to be around the same age. "Yeah, I'm okay," she responded. "Do you know where the dungeons are? I have-" "...potions with Professor Snape?" the girl interjected. "So you can help me, then?" Susan asked with a wide grin. "I'm Romilda Vane. Master of all things potions, and your new mentor," said the girl.

Romilda guided her to the dungeons. The aura of sheer cockiness and pomposity this girl gave off was amazingly high that it almost disgusted Susan. She could not, for the life of her, withstand stuck up people. But, she wasn't going to turn down free help from anyone. She took her seat next to Romilda and waited.

Suddenly a man with shoulder length greasy black hair, a hook nose, wearing black billowing robes bolted in the class room. "There will be no tomfoolery of ANY kind in my classroom. My name is Professor Snape." Yes, this was Severus Snape, the Snarky bat of Hogwarts. "As first years, your day-to-day means of dilly dallying are about to come to a grinding halt. You'll find that potions is no place for your mind to wander off." The shrill aura this man gave off was enough to paralyse the students... with the exception of Susan, who was mumbling about how dilly and dally must be friends or even sisters.

"I'll start by taking attendance. Cassandra Allavera." "Here!" "Phoebe Burns." "Here!" Names went by and by and Susan began to drift off. Often she would imagine she was a princess on a cloud, enjoying many royal pleasures. Her prince by her side ready to mount her on a unicorn and-"Susan Henkel!" Susan looked up and saw a very angry looking Severus. Susan did not pick up on the anger. "Um... 24! 67! 103! I DIDN'T STUDY, OKAY?" Severus began to seethe but decided to, grudgingly, drop it. "Nicholas Hill." "Here" Names went by and Susan looked outside the window behind Snape the entire time.

"All right! Now with that done, it's time to start our lesson." As Snape wrote on the chalkboard, Susan began to giggle. He stopped abruptly and this was usually enough to scare anyone that knew him, or at least picked up on his shrill and snarky demeanour for that matter, into submission. But not Susan, for she continued to giggle. "Shut up!" hissed Romilda, but she couldn't stifle herself. "Is something the matter, Ms. Henkel?" Susan could barely talk through her laughing. "It's nothing really. Just that the back of your head is ridiculous!" Susan only now realised what she just said, and rather than rush to take it back, busted out laughing and even fell out of her chair. Snape walked over to her desk and everyone knew he was very angry. He didn't have to raise his voice or anything. They just knew. "Ms. Henkel, since this is your first year, I'm going to let you off with a warning. Now I strongly suggest you quiet down, wipe that smirk off your face and pay attention." Snape gave a "you're in trouble" glare that made Romilda shrivel in her seat. "Ten points from Gryffindor, and, I'll see you in detention." And this was the warning? Everyone in the class looked terrified and some of the students were choking up. He was that intimidating.

As Susan left the class, she was shocked, but she quickly found and approached her acquaintance, Mr. Longbottom, and rambled on about it. "Jeez. Snape seems like a nice guy," Susan yelled with an irritated look on her face. Neville was confused. Snape had always picked on him the worst, so he couldn't for the life of him understand why on earth she would say that. "He's not nice at all, Susan," he said quietly, as if Snape were right behind him. Susan laughed. "Apparently, you've never heard of sarcasm," she said as she walked off. Next came Defence Against the Dark Arts. This ought to be good.

Susan began to walk more frantically. She was lost. "Excuse me!" she called to a black haired girl. The girl turned around. "Yes?" Susan took a closer look at her. She was definitely asian. Wait a minute! That's her neighbour's girlfriend. "Erm. I'm lost. Do you know where Professor Lupin's classroom is?" The girl paused for a moment then shook her head. "No, I don't. I'm sorry," she said. "That's all right," Susan replied as she stuck out her hand. "I think I've see you before. You're my neighbour's girlfriend, right? I'm Susan. Susan Henkel" The girl looked in confusion and hesitantly shook her hand. "Cho. Cho Chang." There was an awkward pause. "What's your neighbour's name?" she asked. "Cedric Diggory," replied Susan. "Oh," Cho said. "That's right. I am his girlfriend." Cho looked VERY uncomfortable. Who was this girl and how did she know who she was and who she was dating? For now, that question would be unanswered because Susan waved her off, quickly sputtering something about finding someone who could help her get to class.

By the time Susan finally found Lupin's classroom, he had just finished taking attendance. "Ah, Susan. I was wondering when you'd show up," he said. "I didn't CHOOSE to get lost," said Susan, looking somewhat red-faced. Because Susan was so rosy as it was, it was difficult to pick up on when she was upset. "No, no, This happens," said Lupin still smiling. "Just take your seat." Susan was somewhat shocked to see that Romilda had saved an empty seat for her. "Come sit next to me!" she said. "You are my BEST FRIEND after all." Best friend? She's barely known her for a day. Susan wasn't a "friendship in a day" type of girl. To her, Romilda was barely an acquaintance let alone a friend of any kind. She chose to sit next to her, anyway, thought, for reasons even SHE may not fully understand.

Once Defence Against the Dark Arts Class was over, Susan made her way to Magical Theory class. On her way, she passed a seventh year, whom was on her way to alchemy class. This was a class her mother taught but she couldn't take. Not just yet. She was a first year and that class was certainly not for first years. Susan looked longingly at the classroom, wishing somehow she would magically become older. She spent so much time looking at the classroom rather than where she was going that she accidentally bumped into a student with oddly coloured hair. It was brown in the back and blonde in the front. She was clearly a bit older than Susan. "I'm sorry!" she yelped at the student. "It's fine," said the girl, not even bothering to look back at Susan. She simply collected her scattered books and quickly made off to the classroom where her mother teaches. "Hello, Madam Henkel." she heard the girl say as she walked off. "Hello, Kempley," she faintly heard her mother say back.

On her way to Magical Theory class, Susan pondered what that girl was doing going in that classroom. She didn't look like a sixth year, so therefore, she looked too young to take alchemy. Perhaps she was taking Alchemic Studies, which students must take at least one year of before taking alchemy. Did her mum teach that, too? It would seem that way. Susan wondered if her mum might also teach Alchemic Essentials, which you must also have at least one year of before alchemy. Either way, you had to be at least a third year to take either of them.

Susan made it to her next class just before she was to be pronounced tardy. "Professor Strong?" she asked looking at her schedule then around the room. "I assume you're looking for Magical Theory class?" he said while adjusting his thick black glasses. Susan was happy and excited. "Yes, I am," she exclaimed nodding her head violently. Susan really examined got a good look at him. She noticed he had shoulder-length dirty blond hair that was swept back into a ponytail and hazel stubble on a face that was well defined. She noticed he had enough meat on his bones. He wasn't overweight per se. He was more muscular. As Susan took her seat next to Romilda, who was still shocked at her boldness in potions, she couldn't help but think she's seen him before.

"Do I know you?" she asked, without bothering to raise her hand, which caused somewhat of a silence. Strong adjusted his glasses to rub his eyes and then spoke. "Probably. Let me see your textbook." Susan raised an eyebrow as to ask. "What the hell does that have to do with anything?" but simply handed it over. Strong turned it to its spine and examined it. "Strong and Allavera. My wife sells books there. You can buy them much cheaper there than you can at Flourish and Blotts. Sometimes I go there with my son to make him actually do something other than listen to that trash he calls music and-" he could feel himself getting angry, so he immediately stopped himself. "I'm sorry for that. I've just been under a heavy amount of stress. Anyway, yes. It's very likely that you have seen me before. With that being said, it's time to take attendance. Cassandra?" Unlike Snape, whom was very thorough when he took attendance, Strong seemed like he just wanted to get it out of the way. Once he was done with that, he went on with the lesson.

"Now, let's begin with rules. First and foremost. No use of improper English. Having English teaching credentials in the muggle world, I find it to be insulting when someone uses improper English. It's bad enough that I have to spend my summer teaching a bunch of retards-" Romilda scoffed loudly. "How dare you use that word?" she roared. "Romilda, use an inside voice," said Strong very calmly as if he were threatening to raise his voice. "Don't you tell me what to do! Using such offensive language! I bet you call muggleborns "mud-bloods", too!" Strong banged his fist on the table. "Do not EVER use that word in my classroom! Five points from Gryffindor!" Strong became short of breath and his face became purple. "AND FURTHERMORE, VANE, HOW DARE YOU ACCUSE ME OF USING SUCH A WORD!" Romilda rose from her desk. "My parents will hear of this! This is so far from over!" and with that, she stormed out.

After a minute, Strong managed to collect himself. "Class, I'm sorry you had to see that. I'm just very sensitive about that word. You see, one of my closest friends is a muggleborn. It's just a very touchy subject to me." He rubbed his eyes and let out a great sigh. Perhaps one thing that was standing out about him was that his sleeves were rolled up. Most professors wore their sleeves down at Hogwarts. He didn't.

After class came lunch, and thank Merlin because was Susan tired or what? Susan took her seat next to Colin Creevey, another Gryffindor whom was a year older than her. Romilda immediately spotted her and sat to her left. "Hey, you're that new Gryffindor kid, right? The one that made a ruckus in Snape's class?" Colin asked. Had word about that little mishap really travelled that fast? "Yeah! That's me!" Susan declared almost shamelessly. "Whoa! That's awesome! Did you-" "Are you done fawning over my best friend?" interjected Romilda. That's it! Susan's had enough. She was going to end this and end it now. "I'm not your goddamn friend!" she roared, banging her fists in the table. "I barely even know you! Let's get something straight! You don't get to boss me around because you're good at potions!" Then, a silence was drawn between them. "HMPH!" Romilda finally said. "If you're so proud, then enjoy having NO friends!" With that, she stormed off and didn't bother eating her lunch. Susan looked onward feeling kind of bad about her outburst, so she turned back to Colin in an attempt to shake it off. "You were saying?" Colin's eyes became wide. "Woah. That was wicked," he said. Susan smiled at him and gave somewhat of a giggle. "N-no! Really!" he insisted. "That Romilda's been picking on me all day because I took her picture. S-so thanks!"

After lunch, Susan look at her schedule. Flying with Madam Hooch. Charms with Professor Flitwick. Herbology with Professor Sprout. Transfiguration with Professor McGonagal, History of Magic with Professor Binns. "Heh heh. Binns. Like garbage bins..." she said to herself. Before she could look at the rest of her schedule, a voice called to her. "Hey, you! Pick up the pace already! You're gonna be late!" Susan raised her head. It was a grey-haired woman with pale skin and yellow eyes. "Well don't just stand there! Get a move on!" she said. "Are you Madam Hooch?" asked Susan in a sort of irritated tone. She could not stand to be bossed around. "Don't get that tone with me! Of course I'm Madam Hooch. And I can tell you're a first year," she said directly. "How?" asked Susan, as if she really could pretend she were older. "Well," said Hooch. "Do you see any second or third years with their faces buried in their schedules?"

Susan looked more than red-faced now. She looked utterly brassed off. "Right." And with that, she followed Hooch to the courtyard, where flying lessons began. Susan was paying almost no attention. She had been doing this long enough to obtain basic instruction and throw everything else to the wind. Romilda was too busy trying to tell Susan about how Colin Creevey has been stalking her and now he's picked Susan as a new target to listen to any instruction. "Now, class, give it a go!" The class, with the exception of Romilda and Susan, held out their hands. "Up!" was coming from everywhere. Susan hesitantly followed, as she just witnessed a broom hit Astoria in the face. "Up!" Susan said quickly before flinching. "Up!" called Romilda confidently, which was to no avail.

Once all of the students got their brooms, Madam Hooch set up some enchanted rings. "all right! Now I want you to get on your brooms and DON'T do anything else!" All of the students followed suit, with the exception of Romilda. "Humph! I can fly this thing! How hard can it be to-" "Don't even try it, Vane!" interjected Hooch. "One student tried that in his first year and wound up with a broken wrist. Now I suggest you not lift one off the ground unless you want to be expelled faster than you can say 'Quidditch'."

Romilda grudgingly listened. "Now then. One at a time, you will each fly through the rings. All right, Henkel! You're up first!" Hooch called. "Piece of cake! My sister is on the Ravenclaw Quidditch Team!" said Susan confidently and almost in a bragging tone. "It's in my genes!" Hooch gave a bit of a smirk. "Well, then, prove it," she said swiftly. Susan lifted herself off of the ground and flew through all of the rings. She was a little shaky at first, but she got through all of them. When the broom suddenly jerked, she managed to get it under control. Then from the air, she noticed a man in black robes. Was is Snape? It was too hard to tell from so high in the air. And besides, what would Snape be doing observing Flying class? "Focus, Henkel!" called Hooch. Susan noticed that she almost missed a ring and quickly adjusted herself, managing to barely fly through it. But even after completing the task and getting the canned "I'm impressed" from Hooch, she didn't feel satisfied. She looked back where she thought she saw Snape. There was no one there. Was she seeing things? Was he actually there? Either way, she wasn't looking forward to detention with him at all, but she wasn't one to skip detention. She decided to put her big girl panties on and went to go serve it after classes were over


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter V: Draco's Gang

After leaving detention with a sort of new found vengeance for Snape, Susan decided to go and hunt down and meet up with Luna or Neville. She could tell them all about her sorting of rat brains. As she skipped along merrily, she had run into a stout boy with messy dirty blonde hair and a girl with shoulder length ginger hair. "Hey! Are you blind as a bat or something?" demanded the boy. "I'm so sorry!" yelped Susan.

Susan tilted her head and let out a quick gasp. "I know who you are!" she exclaimed. The orange haired girl perked up a smile. "Do you, now?" she asked, to which Susan nodded. "You're Susan Bones. Niece of Amelia Bones from the Ministry of Magic," Susan said. The orange haired girl gave an affirmative smile. "Yes I am," she said as she glided her hand towards the boy. "And this is my friend, Ernie Macmillan. What's your name?" asked Bones. Susan held out her hand. "My name is also Susan. Susan Henkel. But I guess since your name is also Susan, you can call me Beatrice," said Susan. Bones laughed. "Beatrice?" she asked as Susan nodded. "It's my middle name," she said. Then, Bones giggled. "Okay then."

After a brief pause, Susan blurted out a yelp. "Hey. You said your name was Ernie, right?" asked Susan. Ernie gave a confused, yet affirmative look. "Yes, I did. Why?" he asked. Susan gave off a relatively dull smile. "Some girl named Hannah is looking for you in the library," she said directly. Ernie snapped from confused to alerted. "Oh Blimey! I forgot! I was supposed look at a map of Hogsmeade Village with her. I'll catch you guys later!" With that, Ernie sprinted off in an urgent and panicked fashion. Bones then turned to Susan. "So you've met Hannah Abbot?" she asked. Susan smiled, nodded and skipped along with a hurried "Nice meeting you, then!" upon the sight of her favourite acquaintance, Neville. Bones could still see them in eyeshot, so she observed. "And how are you, Mr. Longbottom?" asked Susan. Neville smiled with his usual shy demeanour. "Fine," he said. Susan bent to her knees and swung her head under Neville's face. "You're a shy one, aren't you?" she asked. Neville couldn't help other then to laugh at the sight before him. A first year was sparking up conversation with the third year students. Her face was upside down and facing opposite of Neville's. Susan also gave a smile. She looked over her shoulder and noticed that Bones had walked away with a Hermione to their next class, which confounded her. What was it with the third years taking more classes? Was this the confirmation to Susan that it was, indeed, necessary? Susan dismissed these thoughts and looked back at Neville, whom looking at the floor with his hands in his pockets.

A pair of petite hands covered Susan's eyes quickly and swiftly. A dainty, singsong voice then proceeded to announce itself. "Guess who?" As if she had to ask. "Luna?" asked Susan. The girl then uncovered Susan's eyes and turned to her front, revealing her permanently surprised look. "That's right." Luna smiled and her large, glass-like doe eyes then panned towards the ceiling. Susan never noticed until now how much Luna looked like a moving porcelain doll. It distracted her from conversation. It wasn't scary or such a thing, it was just one more thing that stood out about the already odd ball. And really, Susan wasn't one to criticise anyone for having strange-looking eyes, considering she had a frightening pair of matte, non-shining, bug-like eyes that were usually turquoise, but turned to a shade of glassy teal whenever she was crying. These eyes had doll-like lashes and were closely fixed on Luna, who then then walked over to Neville and ruffled his dirty blonde curls. The already blushing boy became flushed with red.

"Looks like the fat lump has a girlfriend!" called a voice. Susan briefly looked over her shoulder and saw a familiar face surrounded by 2 others. Draco Malfoy, a white haired boy with a pointed face, Vincent Crabbe, an overweight boy with black hair and eyes and Gregory Goyle, a muscular brown haired boy. "What the devil do you want?" asked Susan quickly. Draco scowled, but then conjured a devious plan in his mind. "I know who you are," he said obnoxiously. Susan gave a look of confusion as Draco advanced toward her and circled around her in a taunting manner. "Tussled red hair, crooked glasses, not too tall-" Susan interrupted him with a rage-filled complex. "What the bloody hell's that supposed to mean?" Without thinking, Susan threw a book from her backpack aiming for his head. Draco swiftly dodged it shaking his head and had an almost evil smirk. "And a temper to match, too." Everyone just stood there in silence until Draco decided to walk toward the book and pick it up. He busted out laughing. "An Alchemy textbook?" He then threw the book at Susan's feet and she picked it up. "There's no mistaking it! You're that half-blood girl! Sarah, was it?" Draco asked like he could not give less of a shit. "No. It's Susan. Susan Henkel," Susan said, looking sort of angry. "And you're Draco Malfoy, correct?" she asked. The others looked in confusion. How in Merlin's name did they already know each other? Seriously, what the hell happened? "I'll tell Professor Mcgonnagal if you don't back!" Neville finally said. Draco laughed and actually seemed amused. "Oh. I'm terrified. A fat lump is gonna tell on me while his retarded girlfriend lectures me about how I shouldn't bully some midget! That's a laugh!" Draco had no idea what he had just done.

Susan trotted towards Draco and barbarically slammed him onto the floor. "DON'T CALL ME A BLOODY MIDGET!" she roared. Draco decided to keep at it despite the fact the Susan was clearly very angry. "Hey! No need to get short with me. This is a small problem. I hope we solve it so you don't think low of me. No need to feel down on you luck," he said, constantly thinking of more short puns to throw at her. Susan was bolting with anger and ready to pounce. "Hey, Malfoy!" a voice called. "Pick on someone your own size!" In stormed a boy with jet black hair, green eyes, thick framed round glasses and was characterised by a scar on his forehead and his two cohorts; One boy with short ginger hair and freckles and a girl with bushy hazel hair; The same girl seen walking with Bones back to class and had also known Susan for some time. None other than Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

"Mind your business, Potter!" shouted Draco. That's right. Harry Potter. The boy who lived. He had been talking about the dementors on school grounds looking for Azkaban escapee Sirius Black. The same ones that attacked the train and took a strand of Susan's hair. He had been talking with his friends about it when he saw a girl in distress with his friend, Neville Longbottom and a blonde girl who had skipped off looking for wrackspurts. "Picking on first years just shows how weak you are!" said Harry coldly. Draco simply gave Harry a scowl and brushed himself off. He was now very angry. He pointed his finger at Susan. "You, Suzy, your days are numbered once my father hears about this! You too, fat lump!" said Draco angrily. Now he did it. The one name in the history of name calling Susan couldn't stand being called. Suzy. It made her angrier than being called short.

Susan jumped at Draco only to be held back by a very scared Neville who was probably ready to pee his pants. "Let me go! I'm not gonna hurt the guy. I just wanna break his fucking neck!" she yelled. Neville shook his head. "You need to calm down," he said quietly. Susan was trembling in anger. "Calm down? What for? I'm not mad! I just wanna beat the shit out of him! Get over here, ya little coward!" she shouted. Draco felt satisfied and decided to leave with Vincent and Gregory. "That little bastard..." Susan mumbled. "THIS MEANS WAR, YOU ARSE-HOLE!" She was now yelling and screaming in Neville's clutch. She was kicking and lashing so hard, Neville dropped her. "YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST OF ME, YOU VILE BASTARD! YOU WILL RUE THIS DAY! YOU WILL RUE IT SO HARD! SO SUCK IT UP NOW, YOU WANKER, BECAUSE IT WON'T LAST FOR-" "Are you done, yet?" Susan turned around and noticed that Harry was crossing his arms with a disappointed look.

"Ah damn! Don't tell me you've never been brassed off before!" Susan let out a hearty laugh and patted Harry's back. "Who were those guys, anyway?" she asked. Harry sighed and decided it was best to ignore Susan's offensive behaviour. She was only a first year. She was probably still shedding some immaturity from grade school. "Those are the last people you want to get involved with. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle," he said. Susan tilted her head and adjusted her barrette. "Are they Slytherins? My sister told me that all the Slytherins were complete jerks," Susan stated. Harry nodded his head. "Yeah. They are," he said. Ron looked over at Susan with an add-on to Harry's message. "Avoid Pansy, too. She's a real bitch," he said. Harry quickly backhanded Ron in the arm and gave him a scowl. "Ow! Bloody hell! What'd I do?" he asked.

Susan had been too busy busting out laughing to notice. "What kind of name is Pansy? That's the most retarded thing I've ever heard! Pansy!" Susan was now bursting at the seams with laughter. "You think my name is funny?" asked a very angry voice. Susan couldn't even be bothered to notice that there was a girl standing over her. This had short brown hair, clean-cut bangs, and was distinguished by having a pug-like face. It was Pansy Parkinson. The same girl Susan poked fun at. Pansy intended to show Susan that this was a mistake. She swung her leg up, cocked her foot back, and fired it straight into her abdominal area. Susan abruptly stopped laughing and let out a gasp for air. She was now coughing furiously. Pansy laughed as Susan let out an unclear sound. Perhaps it was a strained "Ow!" or "Help!" that poor Susan was trying to utter. Either way, now it was Pansy's turn to have a good laugh. Susan continued to gag and cry on the ground. "Oh come on!" demanded Pansy. "I didn't kick you that hard!" Susan continued to sob in her position. "Fine! Be that way, you stupid cry-baby!" Pansy was now red in the face as her fists clutched tightly while she was seething.

"Leave her alone, Pansy!" Hermione was standing there, with a commanding aura. Like a mother bear defending her cubs. Harry was slightly in front of Hermione with his wand drawn. Ron stood slightly yet noticeably behind the two with his wand also drawn. Pansy instantly knew she was outnumbered, so she decided to quit while she was ahead and leave. "This isn't over!" And with that she was gone. Hermione instantly went to help Susan up. Susan had calmed down and was now irritated. "You're damn right, this isn't over! How dare she kick me like that? What in Merlin's name was going on in her head?"

Ron tried to change the subject. "You never did give us a proper introduction. Susan, was it?" he asked. Susan quirked a brow. "How did you know my name?" She asked, unaware that it just may have something to do with the fact that she was loudly announcing herself to everyone. "Well yes, I'm Susan Beatrice Henkel. Are these friends of yours, Hermione? You two never introduced yourselves properly. Mind doing so?" she asked as Ron decided to take a different approach to make a good first impression. "It's Weasley." He slipped on some black shades from his pocket. "Ron Weasley." Susan felt a sense of Deja vu. Possibly because they already met. Did Susan forget this? Either way, she gave a disapproving look. "Well, Ron, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret... People who try to be cool Piss! Me! Off! Ugh! No wonder Hermione is so annoyed by you!" Ron took off his shades immediately after hearing that and seemed uncomfortable. Hemione simply rolled her eyes. Susan then turned to Harry and her eyes became as wide as dinner plates. "I know who you are! The boy who lived! Harry Potter, right?" Harry rubbed the back of his head. "Beat me to the punch. But yes, that's me." Susan seemed calmer and nodded her head nonchalantly. "Cool story, bro." Harry was surprised that her reaction was so calm, but was not overtaken by it or anything.

"Look what you guys did!" shouted Hermione suddenly, to which Susan just giggled. She was used to this side of her. "It's not funny, Susan!" Hermione exclaimed as she hit her on the head with her book. "I'm gonna be late for class!" and with that, she darted off leaving Ron, Harry and Susan completely unsurprised


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter VI: The Ultimate Fear

As the days came and went, Susan adjusted fairly well to her classes... With the exception of Defence Against The Dark Arts class. Ever since she faced her boggart, things haven't been the same.

"Alright class. Remember, the trick to defeating a boggart is laughter." declared Lupin. "Now, without wands, repeat after me. Ridikulus!" Romilda rolled her eyes. "This class is ridiculous," she muttered. "Shut up, Romilda." said Cassandra, offhanddedly. "Why don't you go first, Romilda?" asked Lupin. Romilda knew that he heard her comment, but he wasn't one to call out a fight with a student over things like this. Romilda stepped up to the wardrobe. There was a loud ungodly rumbling, and then out came... A mouse. A tiny pink-eared grey mouse. The mouse only had time to scratch it's adorable little face before Romilda shrieked in fear. "A rat! A filthy, ugly beast. It's so disgusting! Get it away from me!" Lupin shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "It's only a mouse, Romilda. Now focus. Riddikulus! Say it." he instructed. "The diseases it carries!" shrieked Romilda as she took out her wand. "That's the spirit! You're doing good! Now say it! Riddikulus!" said Lupin. Romilda raised her wand, avoiding sight of the mouse while doing so. "Riddikulus!" she cried out, pretty much only wanting to get rid of it. Suddenly, the little mouse became a fat kid in an obvious costume. "Hmph! Child's play!" scoffed Romilda while holding up her prominent chin as she walked back to Susan's side. "Why don't you go next, Susan?" asked Lupin.

Truthfully, Susan didn't want to face her boggart. She knew that the boggart would change into what she fears the most. Her specific fear. Whatever that was. Susan stood in front of the boggart awaiting the change. Suddenly, the overweight mouse boy became a shadowed figure. A man? No. Suddenly it got on all fours and opened its mouth revealing glittering fangs. It has thick brown fur and frisky ears. Was it a wolf? No, it was a werewolf. Susan stood there paralysed in fear. "Go on, Susan! Say it! Riddikulus!" said Lupin. But Susan remained frozen in her place. "Susan, Snap out of it! It's only a boggart!Ridikulus!" Lupin's words, again, did nothing and now the boggart looked like it was going to pounce. Lupin took quick action by standing in front of it, leaving it to turn into the moon. "Riddikulus!" he said, and it turned into a popped balloon. Susan was still shaking and even began to cry. Since people weren't used to Susan being scared of anything, they were taken aback by it. "What did you do to her?" demanded Romilda, whom had seen the whole thing herself. Lupin also looked somewhat uncomfortable. "Class dismissed." he quickly said. But why would Lupin end class over this? That was the real question.

Once class was over, people quickly began to hound Susan to see if she was all right, but Romilda swiftly turned them away. The poor girl could barely stand on her own two feet because she was shaking too hard. She barely ate lunch that day, and could barely function in her classes without thinking about it.

Later that day, once classes were over, Susan went to go apologise. "May I come in, Professor?" she asked. "Ah yes, come in. Come in," he said. Susan hesitantly walked in. "Err... Sorry about making a scene in class today," she said. "It's all right, Susan," reassured Lupin. "Some of us have frightening boggarts." Susan nodded her head and there was a slight drawl of silence. "Have a seat," said Lupin, gesturing to a chair across from him. Susan hesitantly took a seat in the chair and noticed once again that Lupin looked slightly uncomfortable. What in Merlin's name was wrong with the guy?"Tea?" he asked. "Yes, please... So... I noticed your boggart turned into the moon. Does that mean you're afraid of the dark or something?" asked Susan. "You could say that," said Lupin with as he handed her a steaming cup of tea. "It's okay. I used to be afraid of the dark, too," said Susan as reassuringly as she could, which wasn't much considering she had been over that fear since she was about seven. "Again, I'm really sorry for making a scene," she added. "Don't worry about it. Things went much worse today when your sister was facing her own boggart," Lupin stated. "My sister got scared?" Susan asked. "Of course. Everyone get scared of something," said Lupin.

Scared was an understatement. When Rosemary faced her boggart, she was terrified. As soon as the boggart came out of the wardrobe, it took a very grim form. It was a little girl with a chubby figure and short, boyish hair. It was Susan Henkel, but something was different. She was soaked in blood and had no whites in her eyes. They were completely black. Rosemary's face turned white in shock and then, it spoke. "Why didn't you save me, sis? I died because you left me all alone. You left me all alone and now I'm dead." The other students looked disgusted at the sight. "Damn..." muttered Katie Bell, a Gryffindor in the class. Rosemary could barely hold her wand straight let alone cast the spell. "They got me, Rosemary. They cut me up, and they ate me and they-" "RIDDIKULUS!" shouted Rosemary with her wand. The boggart then turned into a clown on a unicycle. Rosemary was still shaking holding her wand. "It's okay," said Lupin. "Put the wand down now, Rosemary."

But Susan would never hear about that terrifying endeavour. Lupin wouldn't allow it. Suddenly, Susan heard a munching sound in her book back. She looked over and saw Scabbers, Ron's rat, which she had heard about through Hermione, eating her potions homework. Now, Susan had been in Snape's class long enough to know that unless she were a Slytherin, Snape wouldn't hesitate to fail her on this assignment. Besides that, Susan was very irritated at Scabbers as it were for rifling through her clothes one morning. "You little pest!" she shouted. "Oh dear..." said Lupin quietly, but then he noticed something. Lupin immediately recognised him as someone familiar, but he scurried off before Lupin could confirm his suspicion. Lupin's eyes grew kind of large, and he began to stand up, but stopped himself. If he was who Lupin thought he was, and Susan caught on to his suspicion, she wouldn't back off and it would end painfully for her. "Mark my words Ron!" yelled Susan as she made a violent gesture in the air. "You're dead! I'll fucking kill you and-" "Susan!" Lupin interjected as she turned to him. "Calm down," he said. "I'll be fine once I flatten Scabbers like roadkill. That'll teach Ron to-" "Susan, I will take points away," interjected Lupin once again. "But what about my assignment. That took me hours to do. I'll never have it redone in time!" Susan whined. "No problem!" stated Lupin and with a wave of his wand and an uttering of the word "restorius", the homework was crisp and good as new. "There you go, Susan," he said. "Thanks Professor," said Susan. "Now just...head to your dorm," he said suddenly. This came almost out of nowhere for "Professor, it's only-" "Go," he interjected. And this wasn't going to be the last of it.

For some reason or another, for the next few days, Lupin was constantly thinking of ways to convince her to stay in her dorm once classes were over, but she vowed to kill Scabbers in retaliation for what he did to her assignment in one way or another... despite getting a fairly decent grade on it. In fact, she began routinely carrying around a mallet ready to draw when Ron couldn't find the rat. She even went to the library in her spare time to study rodent traps. One time, during her studies, she noticed Rosemary talking with Cho Chang and Marietta Edgecombe, whom, just like her, were fourth year Ravenclaws.

Normally, Susan would eavesdrop on this conversation, but she was to indulged in her studies. Killing Scabbers was her top priority at the moment. "Hard at work?" Susan looked up and noticed a slender woman with shoulder length scarlet hair, beautiful green eyes, ruby red lipstick and a prominent baby bump. It was her mother, Ezsmarelda Henkel. The reason her mother didn't see her off at King Cross station was revealed. It was because she was visiting her doctor regarding her pregnancy. "Yes, I am," said Susan as she was looking at her mother's baby bump. It was still very small, but very prominent. She probably conceived her and her husband's anniversary. 7 July. Susan remembers that day every year like the back of her hand. Little did she know, it was the only time her mother and father ever made love anymore. What tore them apart? Since Susan didn't even know where babies came from, she obviously was left in the dark.

"So is it a sister or a brother, or do you know yet?" she asked. "Not yet, Susan," said her mother. It was another thing Susan was very excited over. Soon she would no longer be the youngest, and she'd have a little brother or sister to tell her exciting story of "Scabbers' Vanquish" to. That's right. Susan was preparing three makeshift children's books for her baby sibling. Her enthusiasm has taken a lot of worry off of her mother's shoulders. With that, her mother left, and Susan resumed her diabolical planning


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter VII: The Paper Dragon

Finally, Susan would get some peace and quiet. Today was Halloween. Susan was fairly relieved that she wouldn't have to dress up anymore. Her mother always stuck her into some uncomfortable animal costume and was conservative about how much candy she could have in one setting. Most of the other students were at Hogsmeade enjoying butterbeer and the like. Susan couldn't wait to become a third year, when she could enjoy the pleasures, too, but for now, she just enjoyed the quiet. Walking down the hall, she noticed a lean ginger cat licking it's coat. "Marty!" called Susan. The cat stopped and eagerly trotted to it's owner. Susan was holding Marty in her arms. It was only a kitten. A boy kitten. He let out a tiny meow and snuggled in Susan's arms. Marty didn't like being anywhere with too many people, considering he was a rescue and had nearly died from being stomped on. Perhaps because everyone else was at Hogsmeade, he came out from Susan's dorm. The reality is, Susan wasn't going to get a cat. She was going to get an owl like most other students, but then she saw that Marty was about to be put down, and she just couldn't have that on her conscience, and besides, having to use the school owls wasn't the end of the world, right? "Who's a good kitty?" she said playfully. Thank god Romilda wasn't around. She was busy convincing others she was a third year whom was too good for Hogsmeade. Before Susan could remark at how stupid this was, she saw a fifth year boy whom was tall and handsome.

"Cedric!" she shouted. "Heya, Susan!" he replied. "Why aren't you at Hogsmeade?" she asked. "Oh, I just didn't feel like going... there's really nothing special about it anymore," said Cedric walking over to her. "Well where's Cho?" asked Susan. "She's with your sister and Marietta at Hogsmeade." To be fair, Susan did see Marietta and Cho around Rosemary an awful lot lately. In fact, ever since the boggart incident, she's only ever seen her with the two. "What's the matter Cedric? You don't seem as happy," asked Susan with concern. "Cho and I broke up yesterday." said Cedric with a sigh. "Awwww, you did?" asked Susan. "Well, kind of," he said. "I really only considered us friends to begin with and I didn't know Cho considered it to be beyond platonic, so really I was just clearing it up that we're friends. Just friends." Susan nodded her head and rubbed Marty's tummy. "Well it's always good to make that clear," she said.

And before anything else could happen, Marty leapt out of Susan's arms and ran off. "Marty!" she yelled giving chase after him. Cedric followed, but the agile kitten was too fast, even for the athletic likes of him. The fat lady let him back into the common room before either one of them could grab hold of him. "You really aught to be more protective of him," she said scoldingly to an out of breath Susan. "What... are you... talking about you fat bitch? He was in my freaking arms!" said Susan angrily as Cedric looked on while shaking his head in disappointment. "Well then since you know everything, I suppose you don't need me to point out that Mrs. Norris was following you this entire time!" the Fat Lady said with a huff. "Who the hell is Mrs. Norris? I don't see anyone," said Susan. "Behind you," said the Fat Lady pointing to a scrawny cat that had a dust coloured coat and bulging yellow lamp like eyes. Susan instantly went over to her. She had noticed Mrs. Norris around before. In fact, as soon as she started noticing her more, she also had people telling her that they saw her in places she didn't even remember being in the first place. She would sometimes distinctly remember being in a different place, but then again, Susan's memory wasn't the best in the world, and having to memorise all these passwords wasn't helping.

"Awwww! What are you doing scaring my cat?" Susan asked playfully as she picked up Mrs. Norris, whom looked less than amused. She began waving her paws around playfully singing a jazzy tune of "I'm a kitty", a tune she more than likely made up, while scatting." I wouldn't do that if I were you. Filch will get really mad," advised Cedric. Before she could ask who Filch was or what this topaz ring was doing on Mrs. Norris' collar for that matter, Filch made his presence known. "What are you doing to my cat?" he asked angrily. With that Mrs. Norris hissed at Susan and jumped over to Filch. "I was just playing with her!" she said defensively. "Mrs. Norris is not a toy!" he shouted. "Leave her alone, you old grouch," said Cedric, still trying to show respect for him despite what he just said. "I'd give you both a good lashing were it still allowed," he said as he walked off with the cat.

Susan saw Snape walking into the hallway through the corner of her eye and made a run for it. No way was she getting in trouble again. But what was the cauldron for? There were no classes today. She could argue that he was getting things prepared for tomorrow, but it was steaming. What would he need a fresh steaming potion for? Oh, she was going to find out, rest assured, but not at the moment. At the moment, she took Cedric's earmuffs. "Hey, give those back," he said laughing. "You'll have to catch me first!" Susan said playfully. "Okay then!" Cedric said laughing. She ran and he gave chase. You'd better believe he gave chase like no one before. But where did she get the energy to run all the way to the edge of the forbidden forest? The daunting thing is the only reason she stopped is because she saw something confounding. "I've got you now!" called Cedric. "Now... present... them..." His voice trailed off upon the very same sight Susan was beholding. It was a dragon. An eastern dragon. Susan watched more than her fair share of anime at home, none of which she really enjoyed due to its explicit content and poor plotting, and knew instantly that this was a Japanese dragon. But there was something else. It was flaky and completely white. "She's a beauty isn't she?" called a voice. Susan and Cedric looked over. It was Lupin, whom was standing next to a third year girl whom had reddish sandy blonde hair and golden eyes and was wearing a snowflake pattern Kimono over her clothing. "Her name is Ryuugenkami," she said. Susan immediately recognised her accent. She was Irish. She knew because her mother was Irish and Scottish, while she took her flowing English accent from her father. "You're Irish!" Susan simply couldn't help but point out. "Actually my name is Celty. Celty Sturluson. Not Irish. I'm just kidding! Yeah, I'm Irish. I'm also Icelandic," she said. "That's cool. Mum is Irish," Susan said back. "I also have an Irish mum." Celty said back. "So what's the dragon for?" Cedric asked. "Ryuugenkami will be used in a dragon riding lesson that the wonderful Miss Sturluson has chosen against going to Hogsmeade and is helping me set up. And the best part? Our ferocious friend is made entirely our of papier-mâché. If things get too out of hand, she'll fall apart. Literally," and with that, Lupin waved his wand and Ryuugenkami became scraps of paper. "And when you want her back," he waved his wand again, and she instantly became whole again. "It's just like that. Does that answer your question, Mr. Diggory?" he asked. "Yes, I think it does," he said.

Susan continued to look at the Dragon in awe. "We're actually gonna ride this thing?" she asked. "That's right," Lupin said affirmatively. "Well, what if something goes wrong while we're in the air?" she asked. "No problem. Her shards will bring you floating down. I've charmed them to do so," he stated. "Awesome," said Susan. "It's almost time for the feast," said Celty suddenly. "Oh crap!. We'd better get changed then!" said Susan, already running toward the castle.

Thankfully, Lupin, Cedric, Celty and Susan made it back to the castle 30 minutes before the feast was to start. Lupin went to his office and Susan bolted off to the common room. "Pass-" "Flibbertigibbet!" Susan yelled. "Well you're just terribly charming, aren't you?" asked the Fat Lady sarcastically. "Can't chat! In a hurry! Now open the door, Lady of fatness!" and with that, the Fat Lady hesitantly allowed her inside. "Now, you behave yourself or I'll stop letting you inside!" But Susan was already gone. And before the Fat Lady could close herself upon realising that, Susan was back out, all changed into her uniform. "See ya around, Fatso!" As Susan made her way back to the great hall, she saw Harry alone, so she approached him, bearing all sorts of curiosity. "Hey, Harry! How was Hogsmeade?" she asked, and for some reason or another, he seemed all hot and bothered. "Fine," he said quickly. "Are you all right?" asked Susan. "Never better," he said as he darted off. Seriously. What the hell was his problem? She couldn't even begin to go through the array of options because she saw Celty sit down at the Slytherin table. But, she's nice. How could she be a Slytherin? Well, of course, Susan wasn't going to think about that considering there was food in front of her.

The feast was downright fantastic. Susan belched with joy as she got up from her seat and prepared to talk to a seemingly much happier Harry, but she was stopped before she had the chance. Draco stood in front of her, blocking her way. "The dementors give their love, Potter!" he sneered. But he didn't even turn his head. Susan had heard about Draco faking an injury and putting Hagrid knee-deep in hot water. It was his fault that all the Care for Magical Creatures class did anymore was care for flobberworms. Even though Susan didn't take that class, she planned to in her third year, since she had been told about it by her sister. But now, the bastard ruined it. And upon seeing Draco's sling, Susan was infuriated. She balled her little hand into a fist and punched him right in his sling arm. "OW! My father will hear about this, Henkel!" he said while pretending to be in anguish. "Are you aware that I injured that arm? That hurts a lot!" he added. "Oh well my apologies, King Draco! Does your arm need massaging? Would you like me to chew your food for you? Do you need your baby bottle? Oh, you know what? I'm sure the Queen of England will happily throw a fundraiser to help support your arm's well being, you overly dramatic, white supremacist sack of shit!" Susan looked at Draco awaiting a response only for him to walk off. "Miss Henkel," said a familiar voice to which Susan turned around in disbelief. It was Snape. "25 points from Gryffindor," and with that, he was gone.

Going back to the common room with her fellow Gryffindors, Susan noticed that the crowd was larger than usual. What was going on, she wondered. Did they all forget the password? "It's Flibbertigibbet!" Susan yelled trying to help, but upon further investigation, she realised that it wouldn't have helped at all. Suddenly, a tall ginger boy pushed her aside. "Let me through, please." It was Percy Weasley, the head boy. "Wow. What a douche," Susan said to Dean Thomas, whom responded by shushing her. "What's the hold up here? You can't all have forgotten the password - excuse me, I'm Head Boy -" and then he saw it, and awkward silence ensued. The Fat Lady had vanished and her canvas was torn. Was she this upset over what Susan said? Either way, Susan followed the other Gryffindors into the Great Hall where they were met by Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. They would all spend the night here, in the hall. Susan looked to be annoyed by this, but this was hardly what she was worried about at the moment. Apparently, Sirius Black had got into the castle. But how? This place is supposed to be safe. Susan looked over and noticed Rosemary was sitting with not only with Cho and Marietta, but with Dean. "Oh my god. I have to sleep down here AND watch my sister snogging? Great," she muttered. "Will you relax?" said Dean. "Why would he want to kill your sister anyway?" he asked. "He killed 13 people that had nothing to do with him," said Rosemary worriedly. "Well I'm sure your sister would put up a fight if he tried to hurt her," stated Marietta. "I didn't even know you had a sister until earlier this year," added Cho. But Rosemary wasn't convinced. "I'm gonna keep a closer eye on her," she said. "That's probably a good idea," said Dean. Susan continued to listen when suddenly a sleeping bag was dropped onto her head. "Watch it!" she yelled. Suddenly she saw two ginger twins giggle. "Something funny?" she asked. "Hey, we were just observing," said one. "No need to get upset," said the other. "And just who the hell are you guys, anyway?" Susan asked. "I'm Fred," said the twin on the left. "And I'm George," said the one on the right. "Fred and George? Well then, you should probably head to bed. Tomorrow is dragon fighting class," and with that, Susan crawled into her sleeping bag and closed her eyes. But the poor girl couldn't sleep. Why? Why wasn't she falling asleep? She opened her eyes and looked at the enchanted ceiling of the hall. Was she not used to sleeping under the stars? Was she uncomfortable sleeping in a sleeping bag? Either way, Susan lied awake the entire night.

People say watching the sunrise is exhilarating, but it's hard to enjoy when you're irritated because haven't had a wink of sleep. Susan had no trouble staying awake through potions, which was a blessing. In fact, it wasn't until classes were over that she began to hit the wall. Hufflepuff was practising for the Quidditch Cup, and normally, Susan would be down there to support Cedric, but she was just too tired. At the same time, she was going to muck up whatever strength she had and get her butt down there. This would be the only year she would be able to watch Cedric practise and show her support for a while. Next year, there would be no Quidditch for anyone thanks to the Tri-Wizard Tournament and she wouldn't get another chance to watch him play until her third year, and even so, he wasn't guaranteed a spot on the team. All though, that's probably a good thing rather than a bad thing. Her sister, Rosemary, constantly injured herself playing. She wanted to stop, but she didn't want to disappoint her mother, whom constantly bragged that her daughter was a beater. She was fairly let down that she didn't make the team this year, if you can call being a substitute not being part of the team, but perhaps that was a blessing in disguise. She wouldn't have to worry about broken bones or other injuries from the bludgers. Still, her mother was disheartened by the news. Next year, tournament aside, she really wouldn't be able to play in Quidditch because she would be studying for her OWLS, despite the fact that Cedric was doing perfectly well balancing studies with practise, but 1995 will be here before everyone knows it, and perhaps, she will get to be a beater again. Considering Duncan Inglebee and Jason Samuels hadn't taken an interest in Quidditch prior to this year, it could be argued that they tried out for the same positions specifically to keep Rosemary from getting a spot on the team. At the same time, though, maybe they were just looking out for her given how badly she injured herself as a beater last year.

"Give it up, Cedric! You can't beat Cho at this!" shouted Rosemary confidently as she hit a bludger toward him. He, unfortunately, got out of the way fast enough to set the wind current in a path where the bludger bounced back off of the pitcher and nearly hit Rosemary right in the face. Luckily, she saw it coming and swerved to avoid it, unfortunately, the momentum threw her right off of her broom and into the audience. "Oh! You just got Gary Buseyed!" yelled an audience member. "Does this look funny to you?" yelled Susan Bones, a Hufflepuff student. "Are you okay?" asked someone. It was Dean. This is how he met Rosemary. "Yeah. I'm fine," replied Rosemary still in a daze.

When one thinks about it in that light, it could be said that the accident was the best thing to happen to the girl. Either way, Susan found herself falling asleep on her way to the Quidditch practise ground. "Just a bit longer... I just need to stay awake a little bit-" Before she could finish her thought, Susan felt a sharp pain on her ear lobe. She touched it and noticed her earring was gone. Upon looking a her fingers, she saw blood and could infer that something ripped her earring off. But what? She looked over and saw a golden ball with her earring dangling from it's wing. It was definitely the golden snitch, but what was it doing so far away from the Quidditch grounds? And why did it take her earring? Was it speeding away from the seeker and merely tore off Susan's earring by mistake? If so, then where is the seeker? As if to answer Susan's question, suddenly called from behind. "Watch out!" Susan turned around and saw a figure on a broomstick, so she quickly jumped out of the way. "Cedric! What happened?" she asked, and upon further observance, she noticed something swarming all over him. "Are birds chasing him?" she asked herself as the snitch came back into the castle. Cedric, bruised and battered, crashed right onto the castle floor, with the swarm still following him. "Cedric! Are you all right?" asked Susan running toward him. "Shoo! Get away from him! Can't you see that he's..." Susan looked at one of the "birds" in her hand. "It's just paper..." Susan went over to the collapsed Cedric to tend to him. "Cedric! What happened?" she asked. "You're bleeding," he replied. "Forget about me! You look like you just crapped a castle! Come on! Let's get you to the hospital wing." But before that could happen, the paper suddenly swarmed again and reassembled into, not surprisingly, Ryuugenkami, but something seemed different. Whereas when Susan first saw the creature, she had serene blue eyes, now her eyes are piercing red with a glare of evil. What the hell is going on? Susan backed away from the dragon, only for her to swiftly wrap herself around the redhead and fly into the sky with her in tow. Susan cried out for help, but she could barely breathe with how tight she was being held. She clutched tightly to the dragon due to fear of heights. Eventually, Cedric came to his senses and got up, clutching his broomstick. "You're not going anywhere with her!" he yelled drawing his wand. He then jumped on his broomstick and flew towards the dragon while pointing his wand. "Dissemblio!" and with that, Ryuugenkami fell to pieces causing Susan to fall right out of the sky. "Gotcha!" she yelped as she quickly grabbed the snitch with her earring still on the wing. Just as Susan began to realise the gravity of her situation, Cedric caught her from the sky. Perhaps if he were to pay more attention, he wouldn't have crashed into Hagrid's hut.

The loud crash woke the giant from his sleep. "What in blazes is goin' on?" he jolted out as soon as he woke up. Hagrid then noticed the two injured students. "What 'appened 'ere?" he asked. "I'm fine," said Susan as she quickly got up and brushed the debris off her robes. "I think Sirius Black is behind this. Ryuugenkami wouldn't just act up out of the blue," she added. "I think you're right," said Cedric agreeably. "What the devil are you two goin' on about?" asked Hagrid. "I think we'd better patch up that hole in your wall. Sorry about that," said Susan trying to change the subject, but Hagrid wasn't gonna play ball. "Now wait a minute. 'Ern't you just-" "Cedric and I have to be going now," interjected Susan. And with that, they were gone before Hagrid could say another word. Hagrid decided to give them the benefit of the doubt an not dwell on it. His mind was too occupied with the thought of dear Buckbeak's fate


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter VIII: The Quidditch Match

The day of the Quidditch match was drawing near. Gryffindor would be playing Hufflepuff rather than Slytherin, which tore Susan apart. She was looking forward to bashing Malfoy throughout the match. After some deep contemplation, Susan decided to support Cedric rather than her own house. She took her badger paws from her wardrobe and placed them on her bed, as if she did that, they would be ready when she came back. Aside from the horrendous weather, Susan's day was going according to schedule. At least, until Defence Against the Dark Arts class. "Hello, Professor Lupin!" said Susan as she merrily skipped into the classroom. But Lupin wasn't there.

Instead, it was Snape. "Take your seat, Miss Henkel." But Susan wasn't planning on listening. "Where's Professor Lupin?" she asked apprehensively. "Take your seat," Snape reiterated. "But where is-" "Twenty points from Gryffindor. Sit down, Henkel." With a sigh, Susan took her seat wondering if Lupin was in danger. Had Sirius Black murdered him and no one simply said anything yet? All of these thoughts made Susan shiver. "Don't worry, Susan. Professor Lupin is probably just out sick," said Cassandra comfortingly. "No talking, Allavera. Ten points from Hufflepuff," said Snape coldly. Susan looked out the rainy window hoping Lupin would walk into the room sooner or later and take over the lesson. "Today we will be learning about..." he turned the pages to assure it was something the first year class couldn't have possibly been prepared for. "... werewolves." In the moment, Susan's already large eyes widened and she shot up her hand. "Professor, may I be excused for the rest of my life?" "Thirty points from Gryffindor! Sit back down!" demanded Snape. "She's deathly afraid of werewolves," Romilda said as she stood up with her arms crossed. "Miss Vane, I never said I was going to throw her into a werewolf pack without her wand, now did I? Forty points, and turn to page 394," said a very annoyed Snape. Without hesitation, possibly because the class, being mostly made up of gryffindors, didn't want any more trouble than they already had, Romilda sat back down.

The entire time, Susan looked like she was going to be sick. She was shaky with every page turn. She wanted to throw up. She wanted to die. **She wanted to run away. **"Now," said Snape in a stale voice. "Who can tell me the difference between werewolves and normal wolves?" Susan hesitantly put her hand in the air, almost as if she didn't want it to be seen. "Henkel?" asked Snape. "There are things that are only seen on werewolves. Things that you just don't see on a normal wolf," replied Susan, her voice slowly descending into a very dark and looming atmosphere. "Such as?" asked Snape, ignoring her change in tone. "Such as... Well... A werewolf has these cold eyes... these evil piecing eyes that show no sorrow or remorse for when they're about to tear you apart..." Her eyes began to water. "No reservations for who... or what they kill... or maim... and an evil unmistakable painful piece that leaves you-" "That's enough, Henkel," interjected Snape. "This isn't poetry class. Fifteen points from Gryffindor."

That moment alone was enough to make Susan sick to her stomach, not just for the rest of of Defence Against the Dark Arts class, but for the rest of the day. She didn't eat. She didn't talk. She was just where she had to be, that's it. And that night, without even speaking to Hermione like the usual chatterbox she is, Susan crawled into bed without bothering to change into her pyjamas. She just kicked off her shoes and went to bed.

The next morning rejuvenated Susan's mind. She felt aftermath from yesterday, but nothing was going to take her mind off of her overall goal; supporting Cedric. Although, perhaps being prematurely awoken by the ghosts of Hogwarts isn't the best way to start your morning. "Suzy-sue likes Potty! Suzy-sue likes Potty!" sung the ghost. "Shut up, Peeves!" yelled a prematurely awoken Hermione. Susan leapt at the sound of Hermione's yelling and fell from the top bunk onto the floor. "I'm okay..." she said with a groan. "Bastard..." she added as she pulled herself up and brushed herself off.

Aching from her sudden fall, Susan decided to go into the common room and walk it off. She peeked her head out and noticed a boy with jet black hair and green eyes staring at the fire place. It was Harry. Susan at the moment instantly knew why Peeves had awoken her. He wanted her to cast her morning irritability on Harry just to make his day worse, but Susan wasn't going to lose sleep because of someone else. Not again. She instantly went back to the girl's dormitory and shut her eyes on the floor, not even bothering to get back in bed. Although, half an hour later, Susan woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. She decided to leave the common room and walk through the halls, where she saw Luna. Ah, there was a fresh face that she hadn't seen in a while. But, what was that topaz ring she was wearing. Susan could dismiss this as another one of Luna's eccentricities being acted upon, but this looked like the same exact ring that Mrs. Norris was wearing on her collar. Maybe it was a coincidence. At any rate, Susan decided to employ further research when she had nothing left to worry about and kept walking, unable to pull herself out of deep thought.

Once it was nearly time for the Quidditch match, Susan pulled herself together and quickly made her way to her dorm to prepare. The storm outside was nearly insufferable. Why the match wasn't cancelled or postponed was beyond her. "Password?" asked Sir Cadogan, who had taken the Fat Lady's place. Susan was very angry. Not only did Sir Cadogan constantly change the passwords, he constantly made them difficult to remember or even say. "I don't have time for your bullshit, metalhead! I had the mother of all shitty days and I'm in a hurry! My friend needs me! Open it!" demanded Susan. "Profanity is unmecoming of you, young lady," said Sir Cadogan pittifully. " Godda-" Susan suddenly decided not to argue with the nutcase. "It's Oddsbodikins! Oddsbodikins! Now open the fucking passage!" she demanded once again. "Say it without swearing, my fair maiden! And say plase!" exclaimed Sir Cadogan. Now Susan was steaming. "Please open the passage," growled Susan, her teeth gritted. "Certainly, miss," said Sir Cadogan. "Until we meet again, young maiden!" he shouted before opening the passage. "Bastard... I'm already late cause of him and I'm not even ready.. Nut..." Susan muttered angrily going inside. She immediatley siezed her dorm and changed into a canary-yellow and black makeshift cheerleading outfit and put on a pair of badger paws. Susan checked the dress code again to make sure she wasn't violating it. Nope. She's good. With that, she hurried out to the Qudditch stadium. Wind knocked her from side to side and her jagged bangs constantly blocked her face. Before she could even take her seat, she slipped and fell from the rain, and hit her head. "Are you all right?" asked Colin, offering his umbrella to a shivering Susan after helping her up. "I'm okay!" she exclaimed cheerfully, declining the umbrella. Susan looked around and noticed her outfit was being met with dagger stares and slack jaws. She decided to ultimately ignore it and do what she came to do. Support Cedric. And did she ever. Even with her hair blowing in the wind like a tuft of grass in a desert storm. She fell over, her legs went numb, her crooked glasses became foggier than usual, and her paws flew off several times, but she continues to blindly cheer for Cedric and his team. Suddenly, she heard a whistle and both teams landed. "I called for time-out!" Bellowed a voice that Susan didn't bother to investigate. She saw Hermione go down to the grounds upon wiping her glasses with Colin's cloak. Once Hermione had come back, the match started again. Susan cheered and cheered for Cedric, unsure of exactly which team was even winning.

Suddenly, dementors rushed in from all directions, and Susan, instinctively form her last encounter, ducked under her seat. Thousands of skeletal cloaked bodies overran the stadium. Susan was terrified. Were they not satisfied with the hair they had taken on the train? At any rate, Susan couldn't help but notice that these dementors look different from the one that took her hair. These dementors were clad in black cloaks, the one that she encountered had a dull grey cloak. It was perhaps thanks to the many art classes that she took that she could even tell these differences. Perhaps it was due to the pact that a dementor was now looking at her face to face, but before it could do anything, a blast of silver light drove it away. Where did that even come from? Of course, Susan wasn't going to bother to find out once she saw that Cedric was holding the snitch. She went ballistic cheering. Other Gryffindors looked at her very angrily. Cedric tried to call a foul, but nobody else would hear of it. Hufflepuff won. Susan's cheering, though, was brought to an abrupt end when someone shouted, "Oh my god! I think he's dead!" Those words just made Susan's heart sink, only to hear that that was a false alarm. Well, whoever was thought to be deceased, Susan will probably find out eventually. Sure enough, she did, and surprise surprise, it was Harry whom was injured.

Once the Quiddich match was over, Susan, covered in rain, rushed over to the Hospital Wing. She just saw Ron and Hermione leave. Shivering and still carrying her badger paws, which now had a strong, wet dog-like scent due to the rain. She was also holding some very soggy flowers that she picked herself. She did have some help from Neville selecting them, though. "Potty likes Suzy-Sue!" she could distinctly remember Peeves say. How was this true? They barely knew each other for longer than a few days. "There's no truth to this. Peeves was just fucking with me," she thought, but dared not to day considering Madam Promfrey was in the room. Shivering, and her rosy complexion being more prominent from being out in the cold, she roughly handed the flowers to Harry. "These are for you and I hope you get better!" she exclaimed quickly, now trying to hurry out. Then, she noticed a girl whom looked almost like her, except her hair was much longer, she had green eyes and her eye-lashes weren't doll-like, nor was she wearing crooked, foggy, glasses. "Oh my god! We're almost twins!" she unknowingly yelped, immediately startling both Harry and the girl. "I've seen you around the common room! I'm Susan. Susan Henkel. What's your name?" Susan asked. "Ginny," said the girl, looking slightly frightened. "Ginny Weasley." Susan stood silent for a split moment. "Are you related to that ugly idiot, Ron Weasley? Because I wanna punch him!" she proclaimed shamelessly. "Yeah... I'm his sister..." Ginny replied hesitantly. "Okay, see you both later!" said Susan, finally skipping off. Once she was gone, Ginny handed Harry a hand made get well card, blushing furiously.

Back in the commons, Susan was faced with a feeling she had felt so many times before. She was bored. Sure, she was warm and cozy, but perhaps now was the best time to answer the questions she had been asking recently. With that, she got up from her seat near the warm fire, and went to her dorm. After changing out of her soaking cheerleader outfit and into some warmer clothes, she made off to the library, hoping she could find some answers there


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter IX: The Hippogriff Fate

Finally, it came. That day came. The day that Ravenclaw had to play Hufflepuff was here. Since Rosemary was a substitute beater, she wasn't counting on playing, so Susan, once again, planned to support Hufflepuff. She was, once again, clad in her Hufflepuff support outfit.

The match was going pretty well for Hufflepuff, since their beaters were pretty much clocking the entire Ravenclaw team. Once a bludger came flying at Duncan, he knew it was over. He fell off after being hit in the arm by it. "Duncan!" called Cho. Roger Davies, the Ravenclaw Captain, immediately called a time out. The entire team flew to Duncan's aid. "Get back in the game, you soft serve!" called Susan. This comment was ignored and the team checked on Duncan. "I think my arm's broke!" he yelled in pain. "Oh no. We're finished! We can't play with one beater!" Roger said in a panicked tone. "We can still win!" said Cho confidently. "And how are we supposed to do that with one beater?" asked Roger. "We still have a chance! Rosemary's our substitute!" said Cho confidently once again. Roger took a breath and hesitantly called Rosemary over. "Henkel! You're up!"

Rosemary confidently went over and assumed her position as beater. Once she was on the team, it was definitely a turning point. Hufflepuff's beater, Anthony Rickett, couldn't take his eyes off her. "Keep your eyes on the bludger, Rickett!" but it was no use. Ravenclaw won in a landslide. Susan was pretty let down, but happy that her sister won, nonetheless. Hufflepuff were pretty good sports about, too.

Once the winter holidays approached, Susan, whom was looking forward to going home and speding the holidays with her family and bragging about Cedric winning the Quidditch match to his, had ultimately decided to stay at school. This way she would have more than enough time to study and figure out exactly what in the world was going on.

On the morning of Christmas, Susan had a rude awakening to Ron yelling his top off about Crookshanks. She ran down the spiral staircase, filled with rage, and bolted into the common room. "Hey! Shut the fuck up! I'm trying to sleep! It's Christmas for crying out loud!" But she was only yelling at dead air. It became clear to Susan that the yelling was coming from the boys dormitory, and her mother had explicitly said that she was not allowed in there as long as she was drawing breath from this planet. Angrily, she took a breath, and ran toward the staircase leading to the boy's dormitory, but ran out of breath going up. She tried again and again, but to no sucess or avail. "I'm gonna get you for this! Rowdy bastards!" she yelled from the bottom of he staircase just as Hermione came down. "Stop swearing," she said flatly. She was holding Crookshanks in her arms, and looked like she had been kicked in the stomach repeatedly. "What's wrong with you?" asked Susan. "Nothing. Merry Christmas," Hermione said dismissively. Marty eventually crawled from out of his bed once the yelling subsided and let out a scratchy yawn. "Awwwwws. I think somebody's awake!" Susan exclaimed, making baby talk to Marty that made Hermione question Susan's sanity. "Who's a good boy?"

With that, Susan left the common room and didn't bother to say anything about Hermione's accusation of mocking her, even though she really wasn't. She went down to the library and saw Cassandra there. "Merry christmas!" greeted a boy. "Hi! Merry Christmas!" she replied. "Hey, err... I have a present for you," said the boy, showing Susan a pair of earrings. They looked expensive and beautiful to say the least.. "Wow... pretty... but... I don't even know you..." Susan said in an unsure tone, not wanting to decline the earrings. "I'm sorry. I'm Derek. It's just that... Trelawney told my sister that I'd meet a beautiful girl and give her something equally beautiful. Woah... That woman was right," Derek said in a ramble. "No talking," said a Slytherin from across the table. "Well, I guess it doesn't metter anyway, since I have to pick something up for Celty."

"You know Celty?" asked Susan. "Unfortunately," the girl replied. "Who's Celty?" asked Derek. "Just the most awesome person ever!" proclaimed Susan. "Anyway, is she your. friend, too?"

"Not in a million years. I'm her sister. My name is Ingrid," she said. "Well, nice to meet you. I'm Susan, and this is-" "I know," interjected Ingrid. "I overheard you two talking. Hey, I've gotta go pick up something from Trelawney's for my sister. Wanna come with?" Susan briefly pondered this and weighed her options. One one hand, she came to the library to study and figure things out. On the other, she didn't know who Trelawney was and now she was curious. "Sure!" Susan eventually said. "I guess I'll come with you then," Derek said hesitantly, putting the earrings in his pocket.

After the longest walk to the classroom, they FINALLY got there. "Watch your step," warned Ingrid. Susan didn't understand why until she saw a ladder leading directly to the classroom. Ingrid climbed down easily as if she were a professional at this. Derek seemed more hesitant and Susan boltted right into it, only to fall right to the floor. "Ow!" Ingrid rolled her eyes. "Ah Ingrid Sturluson, my old pupil. I had a feeling you'd bring others with you," said a woman with a misty voice. "Hi, Trelawney," said Ingrid unenthusiastically. Trelawney then took the longest look at Derek and Susan. "The crystal gaze foretold me that there would come a boy with golden hair whom was the younger brother of my most faithful student, and a redheaded girl resembling a doll, whose fortune I must foretell," she continued in her misty voice, looking at a very frightened Susan. "What did you need me to give Celty?" asked Ingrid, trying to divert her attention away from Susan. "Ah yes, I wanted you to give her this. I foresee that she will need it in the near future," Trelawney said, handing Ingrid an umbrella. She then turned to Susan. "Now then, hold out your palm," she said in a more prominent misty voice. "Okay... My name is-" "Don't tell me!" Trelawney interjected, still holding her misty voice. "Your palms will say it all."

Susan nervously held out her hand. Trelawney firmly took hold of her fingers. "Ah. Your family name is Heckle. No! Henkel. Your first name is Suzanne. No! Susan. And your middle name is Bella- Beatrice. Oh, I see. You're a descendant of the Black family. Unmistakable in that line right there." Susan was taken aback with astonishment. "Th-That's right!" she said as Trelawney turned to Derek. "And you're her future lover, Derek Brown, aren't you?" she asked, to which Derek responded with a slack jaw and a blushing face. "Future lover?" they both asked at the same time showing different levels of both disbelief and disgust. "Quiet! You'll disturb my concentration! Ah... I'm getting something from my crystal ball... Oh dear... This is dark... Very very dark... Things will not go well for you, Susan," Trelawney said as her misty voice became more grim and looming. "I see... a being with 1000 faces will replace those who surround you. A man whom can only be regarded as human from time to time, will lead you to your grave. Unfortnuatley, Susan, by the end of this year, you will die."

Susan looked at Trelawney as if she didn't believe a single word she was saying. "And how can you prove this?" she asked. "Well, earlier this year, a student of mine saw the grim in his tea leaves... Upon this gazing... I don't think he was foreseeing his own death... but yours," she said. "Shut up about Harry and the tea leaves! I hear enough of it from my sister. 'Oh Ingrid! Harry Potter is dying!' No he's not! This is rubbish and that's why I don't waste my time taking this class anymore! You're a fraud and all you've ever done was predict the death of a student! Well guess what? Nobody's died yet!" Ingrid said in a huff as she left. And with that, both Susan and Derek went to the great hall to eat looking very nervous about the possibility of Harry having foreseen Susan's death.

Those two weeks went by fast, and the grim fate of Buckbeak was realised. Execution, at least, that's what the Hippogriff was facing without a good defence. Susan had heard, but was far too busy with improving her many failed attempts at killing Scabbers as well as tracking down Sirius Black and apprehending him before he hurt anyone else, or perhaps she would have assisted Hermione... at least... until one fateful morning. It was the last day before the term was to start again.

Henkel woke up that morning feeling nauseous, and simply waved a hand at morning sickness due to pregnancy. The entire day, whist she was preparing to start her class again, she felt woozy, and later that night, it happened. Henkel was having a friendly banter with Lupin. "I don't think it's right to consider executing an innocent animal because a child got hurt from not having the basic intelligence to follow instructions," said Henkel tucking her scarlet hair behind her ear. "I suppose," added Lupin. Suddenly, Henkel fell to the ground in pain. She vomited and caught herself gasping for air. "Ezsmarelda!" said Lupin quickly as he went to her side, but it was too late. Blood was running down her legs and she crawled into a kind of foetal position and cried in anguish. "It hurts!" she cried. She screamed and screamed.

The news of the miscarriage spread like wildfire. Henkel was in Madam Promfrey's all day. She felt terrible. She constantly looked back to figure out what went wrong.

Susan, hours before it happened, was busy doing what she always did on non-school days. Nothing. But then, she heard something. It sounded like shouting. "How can you expect to be respected when you dress..well, like that?" shouted a familiar voice. "What's wrong with my clothes? I'm not acting like I'm attending a formal dinner every day," replied the other voice. Susan decided to figure out what was going on. "Well, considering you're a teacher, and not a good one at that, I would expect you to at least have some shame." That voice sounded so familiar. "Some shame?" and so did that one. Susan poked her head in and immediately knew what was going on. Strong and Lupin were arguing. "Oh, yes. I'm not sure you would know what that is, considering your tolerance towards those of filthy blood," said Strong in a disgusted tone, which confounded Susan. Didn't Strong say that he had a muggleborn friend. Now, Susan definitely wanted an explanation. "What's going on here?" she asked. "It's nothing of your concern." replied Strong while sounding kind of snappy. "Susan, ignore his tone. He's being very cold. This is nothing of your concern," said Lupin in a calmer voice."What's going on?" reiterated a somewhat scared Susan. "Oh, cold?" asked an angry Strong. "Of course cold! Seeing the way you treat Rubeus. He's the kindest man I've met, and you haven't done anything but spit in his direction!" said Lupin in a disgusted tone. " I'll let you know his blood is nothing but impure. It's disgusting! You should stop being so...open-armed to these people. Their filth and impurity will rub off on you, and why let almost pure blood go to waste?" Strong asked in an equally disgusted tone. "What are you two even talking about?" asked Susan, shaking and seeming incredibly scared. "If you're so scared, why don't you leave?" asked an annoyed Strong. "Do not raise your voice at her, Michael!" yelled Lupin. Susan, feeling completely helpless and not knowing what in the world was going on or what to do for that matter, ran off crying, which caused Strong and Lupin to be at each other's throats.

Susan was left to cry out by the Black Lake when she heard what were unmistakably Lupin's footsteps, so she turned away and crouched on the grass bank to hide that she was crying. She was hoping that he was only passing by and wouldn't notice her. "Hey... Are you okay?" he asked. Susan responded by wiping her tears on the sleeve of her red hoodie and brushing some dirt off of her overalls as she stood up. "I'm okay," she said smiling, trying to make it seem like nothing happened. But Lupin wasn't fooled. Not even in the slightest. "I know you were scared by our argument, Susan," he said directly. "Me, scared?" Susan asked as she busted out into forced laughter. "I can tell that's forced. It's okay, though. It's not every day you see two teachers at each other's throats. So I don't expect you to be totally unphased by that," Lupin said comfortingly. Susan, with more difficulty, still acted in a nonchalant manner. "I think everyone has their moments of bitchiness. My mum has them every month for some reason... or at least... she did until a few months ago, when she told me I was gonna be a big sister..." she said twiddling her thumbs. "Oh, well...there's...a certin time of moth for girls when they hit a certain age...and, ah, it makes them grumpy...and...it's...yeah. And...so, I'm not going into any detail, and...talk to your mother." Lupin said with a notable amount of hesitance. "O...kay..." Susan said, without having the slightest clue what he was talking about. "Um... Professor?" she asked. "Yes?" Lupin replied. "What the heck are you talking about?" Susan asked in a confounded tone. "Nothing" Lupin replied quietly. But Susan wasn't done asking questions that she was too young to know the answers for. "Do you know where babies come from? Mum won't tell me," she said. "That, Susan, is something you willl have to find out when you're older," Lupin said directly, much to Susan's frustration. "But I'm curious!" she exclaimed. "That's not a comfortable question," Lupin said, doing the best he can to dodge giving her an answer. "Why?" asked Susan. "Because it involves... interactions... between the male and female that aren't...friendly, per se," said Lupin with even more hesitance. "Kind of like how you and Professor Strong were arguing?" Susan asked grasping at straws. A long silence stood between them. "No..." Lupin finally said shrugging off the disgusted look on his face. "I saw on tv that these two women have a baby together!" Susan said out of nowhere with a smile on her face. "I'm glad," Lupin said, returning the smile. "Well, I think you should wait until your a little older to know the process, but, let's return to the castle, shall we?"

"Okay! Professor, why do you think those ladies parents were so mad at them?" Susan asked with genuine confusion. "Some people, well, they don't like it when people of the same gender love each other. They think it's wrong, when they really just don't understand that love has no boundaries," Lupin said, all of a sudden looking sad. "That's deep," Susan said in a gazed voice. "It is. Let's head back," Lupin said, quickly shrugging off his sadness. "Okay!" Susan said clinging to him and Lupin walked her back to the castle. "And everything should be nice and-" "GIVE ME BACK MY WAND!" interjected a girl whom was running and screaming. "FINDERS KEEPERS!" shouted a boy from the distance. "YOU STOLE IT, BLOODY BLONDE BASTARD!" yelled the girl, revealing herself to be a brunette. "HA-HA!" shouted the boy as he jumped in the air. "Hey, what gives?" asked Susan feeling scared, as if she was returning to square one.

The boy put his hand in the air, holding the wand with a grin. "I got Chrissy's wand!" he exclaimed tauntingly. "Give it back to me..." the girl said angrily.

"Nuh-uh." the boy taunted with a grin. The girl jumped up and tried to grab it, but the boy jumped and the girl couldn't reach it. "Ha!" the boy said with a laugh, when suddenly, the girl snatched his wand. "Haaa.." Now the girl had him in a position where if he wanted his wand back, he'd have to return hers. "Hey!" he shouted. The girl stuck her tongue out and began to run, but was grabbed around the waist. "SAVE YOURSELF, KID!" shouted the girl pointing the wand at Susan. "Switcharoonie!" Susan shouted, giving the boy his wand and and the girl hers. "Thank you," the boy said, smiling. "Thanks. I quite like my wand," The girl said as she bit it. "It's pretty legit, too," she added. "I'm Susan. Susan Henkel," said Susan holding out her hand. "Nice to meet you, Susan," said the boy with a smile. "Frank Strong," he added. "Christina Grey," said the girl. "Ohhhhhh. You're the guy who Professor Strong was talking about," said Susan. "He was talking about me? Oh great, what did he say?" asked Frank. "Something about taking you to a bookstore to keep you away from 'that whore'," Susan said with a tone of confusion. "What?" Frank asked angrily. "I can't believe that jerk!" Christina exclaimed crossing her arms. "I can't believe it..." Frank said shaking his head and managing a calm face. "Well thanks for telling me, Susan. I'm glad you did."

"On another note, I've decided I love you." said Christina, staring intensely at Susan. "You must love me too. That's how love works..." she added. It was apparent she was trying to change the subject. "Ignore her," Frank said butting Christina to the side. "Don't butt me out," Christina said shoving him aside. "And don't butt me out!" Frank yelled, shoving back. "It was a shove, it's different," Christina said shoving back. "Now if you don't mind..." she added looking back at Susan, as she bit down on nothing. This was met by Susan with a confused look. "You are a crazeh ladeh!" she exclaimed playfully. "Crazy is good," said Frank. "Very good," added Christina. "Indeed." said Frank with a nod. "Yep." Christina added meeting it with another nod. "Yeah," said Frank, rambling off. "It's pretty cool," added Christina, rambling off just as much. Susan was now very annoyed. "It is. Well then Susan, I assure you whatever my dad says isn't true if you hear him talk smack," said Frank directly. "Yeah," said Christina. While he was talking, she looked over at him, and her cheeks turned slightly pink. "Professor Lupin, what's going on?" Susan asked to a distracted Lupin. "With what?" said Lupin, snapping out of it. Susan was slightly curious as to why he was looking at the moon so much. What's so fascinating about a half moon? "Why are they blushing?" she asked. "I'm not blushing!" Christina said defensively. "We're not blushing," Frank said boldly. "No blushing," Christina added. Lupin smiled a little. "Mhm. Usually people blush when they like someone," he said. "Which we don't," Frank quickly said. Susan had a look of genuine confusion on her face. "I think you two like each other," Lupin said. "No, we're friends," Christina said, putting emphasis of the word "friends". "Yeah...just friends." Frank said with a dose of disappointment. "Sorry, Professor. No couple here," Christina said. "Somebody carry me piggyback!" Susan yelled out of nowhere. Frank raised his hand the same time as Christina. Christina responded by slowly turning her head to him, then back at Susan. "Onetwothree RACE!" she yelled jumping at her, only to be beat by Frank. "HA. Okay, jump on my back!" said Frank. "Yay! Susan yelled as she jumped on his back. With that, Frank spun around quickly. "You remind me of my sister, you know," He said as he stopped spinning, and started galloping around. "Only louder," he added. He spun her around one more time before finally setting her down. "There you go, cutie!" he said. "You said you had a sister?" asked Susan with a smile. "Little one, only nine. And a tinier one, only one. You remind me of them," he replied with a smile.

Suddenly, a very large man wearing a moleskin coat walked down the hall weeping and a very small in comparison Hermione was rubbing his back. Susan immediately recognised him. It was Rubeus Hagrid. "Hi Hagrid! What's wrong? Why are you crying?" Susan asked. "Buckbeak...he's s'posed to be executed..." Hagrid said tearfully. "Hagrid, have faith! We can win this case! Buckbeak hasn't done anything wrong!" said Hermione. The name rung a bell to Susan, but she couldn't quite put her finger on who that was. Was that the hippogriff that everyone was saying "savagely tried to kill" Draco? "Who's Buckbeak?" asked Susan with genuine concern. "Oh..a pet. It's nothing to worry about..." Hagrid said, wiping his tears on his sleeve. "But why is your pet facing execution for? That isn't right!" Susan pleaded. "Reasons..." Hagrid said sombrely as he walked away with Hermione closely following. "But... Hagrid.. Come back! I can help you!" Susan pleaded as she started after him. "Hagrid-"

"Susan, I wouldn't get yourself into this," interjected Lupin. "But that's so unfair! Hagrid's so nice and-" "Really, Susan," he said sternly.

"But-"

"Susan."

"But-"

"Just don't!"

"But I just wanna help him!" Susan pleaded one final time. "Sometimes that isn't a good idea," Lupin said without changing the serious expression on his face. "I guess you're right," Susan said as she walked off feeling frustrated.

And that's what brings us back to the miscarriage. Lupin had told Henkel what happened hoping she could talk some sense into her daughter. "I can understand Susan's frustration. Thank you for telling me this, Remus," Henkel said with a warm smile. "Of course," replied Lupin. "I agree that it's unfar but-" before she could finish her sentence, she felt sharp pain in her stomach. "Are you all right?" asked Lupin. "I'm fine," Henkel said dismissively. "Anyway, I don't think it's right to execute an innocent animal because a child got hurt from not having the basic intelligence to follow instructions," said Henkel tucking her scarlet hair behind her ear. Then, it happened. Lupin immediately got Madam Promfrey's help. "What's going on?" Henkel asked in terrible pain. "I'm afraid you mave miscarried..." Promfrey said bluntly. She didn't particularly like Henkel or respect her for that matter. Why, exactly, was between her and Merlin. It didn't matter, because she at least tried to be nice to her. "What?" Henkel shouted in disbelief. "I'm terribly sorry," said Promfrey. "H-how is that possible?" Henkel asked, still in disbelief. "I won't know until I examine further," Promfrey said, leaving Henkel in tears.

The next morning, Snape came to visit her. "Susan will be so dissapointed..." Henkel said staring at the ceiling. "I'm sure she will understand...or at least try to..." Snape said.

Meanwhile, down the halls, Susan had confronted Draco about Buckbeak. "Malfoy, you bastard!" Susan yelled angrily. "What did I do?" Draco asked. "Buckbeak's gonna die because of you!" Susan roared, giving Draco an accusatory look. "Well he hurt me!" Draco said defensively. "But he didn't kill you! BUT I'LL FIX THAT YOU COCKSUCKER!" she said as she grabbed his arm and bit down on it. "Get off of me!" Draco said shaking his arm violently. "Henkel!" shouted a voice. It was Snape. He had left the hospital wing the moment he heard "cocksucker" to give detention and take house points from whomever it was. Susan didn't even bother to let go, so Snape had to pry her off. "Fucking bastard! Let go of me!" she said kicking. "One hundred points from Gryffindor!" Snape said angrily. "BUT HE GOT BUCKBEAK KILLED!" Susan roared. "No yelling. You have recived one week detention," said Snape in a very intimidating voice. "Well I won't go!" proclaimed Susan in a dismissive way as she began to walk off. "Do you want me to get rid of more points?" Snape asked in a threatening voice, which was enough to make Susan stop. "No..." she said begrudgingly. "Then you are going to detention," Snape said as he walked off.

Susan, then turned to Draco. "You'll get yours someday! I'm not finished with you!" she yelled. "Sure, whatever," said Draco rolling his eyes. "By the way, that bite mark is gonna hurt like hell for the next few weeks," Susan sneered while giving him the bird. Draco responded with a glare. "I'd like to see your prissy dad get me executed!" Susan said before blowing a raspberry. "Immature first year..." Draco said walking away.

Susan's victory was cut short upon remembering that Lupin asked her to come to his office, once her classes were over, at breakfast that morning. Later that day, she skipped along merrily to his classroom feeling satisfied about having told Draco off. "You wanted to see me?" she asked. "Have a seat," said Lupin in a very calm voice. "Okay!" said Susan with a smile. Lupin didn't remove his serious expression. He was being very direct and calm. Clearly, whatever he had to say was not going to be easy to say. He let out a sigh and spoke. "There is something called a miscarriage. It's where a baby dies inside the mother's womb," he said before taking another breath and letting it out. He was now exhibiting even more hesitance. Susan looked somewhat worried from just hearing this, but she didn't even have to ask. "And...I'm afraid that's what happened to your sister," Lupin finally said.

"Wh-what..."

"I'm terribly sorry."

"B-but... She... Jasmine was going to... she was..."

"Just know that you still have your older sister."

There was a silence. Susan was holding back tears. She was trying not to cry. "You would have been a great older sister," Lupin said in a comforting tone. Susan was now trying her hardest to hold back the tears. "I'm sorry," Lupin said to a now crying Susan. She, then, hugged him and cried on his shirt. Lupin simply let her, hugging her the entire time. Suddenly, Draco came in the room with a walk of confidence. "She flipped me off, Professor. She really hurt my feelings!" said Draco with an obviously faked sadness. In, then, came Snape, prepared to give the mother of all punishments to this girl, when they both noticed Susan's crying.

"Is little baby Susan sad? Ha, you're about to cry even-"

"I'm sure we can let this one go, Malfoy."

"What?"

"I will not repeat."

With that, Lupin mouthed a quick "Thank you" to Snape as he left with a very angry Draco. "My father will hear about this!" he yelled to Lupin before finally leaving. Lupin simply ignored him and continued to rub Susan's back. "It's okay," he said comfortingly, but Susan had already cried herself to sleep. Lupin got up, carried her into the Gryfindor common room, and stood in front of Sir Cadogan. "What on earth are you carrying that little boy around for?" he asked. "You aren't aren't a paedophile, are you?"

"The password is Scurvy Cur."

"To the point aren't we, my shrub rocketeer?"

"I don't have time for this."

Once granted access, feeling offended by Cadogan's paedophile accusation, that in all honesty, came out of nowhere, Lupin laid Susan on the nearest couch. Harry was thinking about the fate of his new Firebolt, which he had been gifted with over the holidays. Since there was no way of knowing who sent it, Hermione turned it over to McGonagal for "inspection" and Harry hasn't hear about it since. Both he and Ron were understandably angry with her, given that the quidditch match against Slytherin was drawing nearer and nearer. At any rate, he felt compelled to ask about Susan.

"Professor Lupin, what happened?"

"Mother had a miscarriage."

"Oh...I'm sorry for her."

"Let her sleep. Make sure no one is too loud."

"Right," Harry said, watching Lupin leave. He lightly placed a blanket over her. Moments later, Hermione came in, holding a tall stack of books. "Susan's sleeping. We have to be quiet," Harry said coldly. "What happened?" asked Hermione. Harry didn't answer. He simply left the common room to practise for the Quidditch match.

Hours later, Susan woke up and rubbed her forehead. "She's awake," one girl said as everybody slowly started getting louder. "What happened?" Susan asked rubbing her eyes. "You were asleep, so Harry told us to be quiet," said one boy. "Oh, I see," said Susan. "Well I'm going to bed." Hermione's head snapped up. "But dinner time is in 15 minutes!" she called to Susan and she shook her head. "If it's all the same to you, I'm not hungry," she said, but Hermione wouldn't take no as an answer. She grabbed Susan's hand and dragged her down to the Great Hall. While eating, she noticed a peculiar pendant on her necklace. "That's a time-turner!" Susan exclaimed. "Not so loud! How do you even know about the this?" Hermione asked. "Because my sister has one so she can take O.W.L. prep classes and her normal classes. She takes about 85 classes a day give or take," Susan rambled on. "And you know this, how?" asked Hermione once again. "I... might have read my sister's diary..." Susan said laughing sheepishly, lifting her robe just a few inches revealing part of the diary. "I should probably return it. I don't think she's noticed it's gone yet."

"I have now!" shouted a voice as Susan felt the diary being snatched out of her robes. She looked up. It was a girl whom looked like Henkel except she was younger and more innocent looking with a doe-like face. It was Susan's older sister, Rosemary. She looked very angry and her eyes were watering. "Don't you have any propriety?" she asked angrily. "Do I have any what-what?" Susan asked. "You're impossible!" Rosemary roared as she stormed off. After a moment of silence, Susan got up. "I'm going to bed. Night," Susan said hurriedly as she ran off.

That whole night, Susan had unbelievable nightmares that robbed her of more than half her normal sleep. Thinking about her unborn sister and her very much alive an very much angry sister was too much guilt for her. She lied there with her eyes open looking at the half moon. "Full moon's coming soon..." she mumbled to herself in a somewhat dreadful voice. Thoughts of terror flashed in and out of her head.

At the ripe age of four, the poor girl was nearly killed by a werewolf. That same day, Susan was told she was to wear glasses. "No!" she shouted impishly. "I don't want to! Glasses are ugwy! Meh!" Her mother tried everything to get her to wear her glasses or at least consider it, but nothing was working. She eventually got an eight year old going on nine year old Cedric to help her. "Hey Susan, let's play a game," he said. "I wuv games!" shouted Susan. "Then you'll love this one. I think you're familiar with it. It's called hide and seek!" said Cedric with a smile. "I know that one!" shouted Susan happily clapping her hands. "Then let's raise the steaks. If you win, you never, ever have to wear glasses, but if I win, you have to wear them whenever your mum says," said Cedric with a bit of a cunning smile. "Okay, then! You got a deal!" Susan said with a smile.

"Okay, I'll count to one hundwed and you have to hide. No cheating!" said Susan leaning against a tree. Cedric nodded and went off. "One, two, twee, fouw, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eweven, twewve, thiwteen, fouwteen... ONE HUNDWED! HEWE I COME!" Susan said dashing away from the tree. But Cedric was nowhere to be found. The ironic truth was that he was hiding in plain sight. Right behind the tree where Susan was counting. Eventually, she gave up. "Okay! I give up! Wewe awe you?" she asked hesitantly, not wanting to admit defeat. Cedric came from behind the tree and smiled. "Good game," he said. "NO! I'M NOT WEAWING DEM! EVEW!" Susan shouted as she dashed off. Cedric chased after her but lost her quickly.

Susan spent that entire day hiding in the Pinlotto Woods nearby the reserve. "Dewe nevew find me hewe! I won't evew weaw dem! Not weawing da gwasses!" Susan said, pouting. Suddenly, she heard growling coming from a shrub. She turned around and saw a beastly figure. Was this a feral dog? A wolf? No. It was a werewolf. And this is would be the first encounter with them that Susan would have, and it would change her life forever. She backed away slowly. "Good doggie," she said. This is where things get to be very terrifying for her. She tried to run but the werewolf pounced onto her. His hot breath felt like flames against the little girl's cheek. His paw pressed so hard against her stomach, causing indescribable pain. She looked up and saw the beast and his glittering teeth. His piercing eyes terrified her. "HELP!" Susan screamed at the top of her lungs. "Susan?" shouted a voice. Susan tried to see who it was, but she dared not open her eyes again to the beast. "You get away from her, you savage!" but the werewolf ignored her and open his jaws preparing to kill Susan. "Flipendo!" shouted the voice again, and Susan instantly felt the weight of the beast was lifted from her. "Susan! It's me, Amos! Are you alright?" he asked. "Mr. Diggory?" asked Susan barely opening her eyes in fear that the werewolf would come back once she did. "Don't worry. I chased him off," Amos said, helping Susan up. The poor girl began to cry and she was shivering. The pain was still strong in her stomach. "Let's get you back home, okay?" said Amos.

That night haunted Susan to this very day. Nearly being killed is not something that happens to every four year old. That whole month. Susan felt uneasy. January was not a good month for her. Susan would feel better next month. She knew it


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter X: Execution

February faded right in. Gryffindor had won the match against Ravenclaw, much to Rosemary's disappointment. "And we were so close! Oh well. Better get back to my essays! I'm already late with one," Rosemary said as she dashed away. Susan couldn't help but wonder if Rosemary had just one too many classes on her schedule, which would explain why she wasn't still mad about the diary, if she even remembered what happened.

At any rate, she wandered through the grounds and eventually happened upon a bound up hippogriff. Was this the "Buckbeak" that everyone was talking about? Either way, the poor guy looked to be very uncomfortable, so Susan approached him. "You poor thing... It's okay... I won't hurt you..." she said stepping towards him. Buckbeak seemed weary, but, being bound, couldn't do much about her getting close. "You're all alone here, aren't you?" she asked as she got closer and reached an arm out to pet him. Buckbeak simply responded by letting her and makes a sound in reply. "You're hurt..." Susan said, noticing the bindings that were irritating and cutting his skin. She rubbed them soothingly and watched feathers fall onto the ground from where she was rubbing. Buckbeak made another sound in pleasure, then, "Susan!" called a stern voice. It was a very stern looking Lupin. "Susan, you should get back to the castle... And, I've seen Buckbeak has taken a liking to you," he said as his expression changed from stern to smiling. All of a sudden, Buckbeak started to panic. He backed away and kept eyeing Lupin, almost as if he knew something about him that nobody else did. "It's okay. He's harmless," Susan said reassuringly. Slowly, Buckbeak calmed down, but still eyed Lupin whenever he came within his sight. Buckbeak then nudged Susan's hand, in a way telling her "pet my head". Susan picked up immediately and Buckbeak responded with happy noises such as purrs.

"Susan, get away from that beast!" called a voice. Suddenly, Susan felt a sharp pain in her leg. Buckbeak's talon had ran across her shin. The poor guy must have been startled by the sudden yell. Susan flinched but kept quiet. "It's not hurting her, Ezsmarelda" said Lupin, whom didn't see the scratch. Yes, both Henkel and Snape were there, along with Draco. "What do you want, Malfoy?" asked Susan. Draco, then got a devious smirk. "I saw you heading down here, so i thought I'd tell teachers you were going to down see that beast! I didn't want you to get hurt. After all, that savage nearly murdered me!" Draco said pointing to his arm, which seems to have made a miraculous recovery at the defeat of Gryffindor shortly before the winter holidays. "Shut the fuck up!" Susan said rolling her eyes. Henkel looked shocked and Snape gave Susan a glare. "Fifty points from Gryffindor," he said before walking away. "What happened to your leg, Susan?" Henkel asked, avoiding the fact that Susan just used such a strong swear word. "Oh..." said Susan, trying to sound surprised. "I guess I must have tripped or something."

Henkel sent Susan to Madame Promfrey's, where her lie didn't get very far. It was almost transparent that Buckbeak scratched her. And there wasn't a single doubt in Susan's mind that it was going to affect his case. Susan could only hope whatever evidence Hermione and Rosemary came up with was going to outweigh this injury. She walked on a limp no matter how much she tried to walk normally. "Susan!" called a voice. It was Rosemary. She was clearly in a hurry of some sort. But to do what, Susan didn't know. It was the weekend, so there were no classes. "Where are you going?" asked Susan. "To the library..." Rosemary said tucking her vermillion hair behind her ear and rubbing her doe-like, harlequin eyes. It was apparent that she had been crying. "Anyway, Dean told me to tell you that the Gryffindors were having a party to celebrate their victory in the match." Rosemary took a shaky breath. "He also said... that you probably shouldn't go because a lot of Gryffindors are still sore that you supported Hufflepuff... They think you jinxed the match for them... I tried to explain that you wouldn't do that and even if you would, that you would have done it in this match, too since I'm your sister and all, but there's no reasoning with them," Rosemary said, wiping a tear from her harlequin eyes. "It's all right! I don't mind! I've got a lot of studying to be done anyway!" said Susan, her already rosy face turning red with anger. "See you later!" she added, storming off. "I don't think she took it well," said Cho quietly to Rosemary.

At the library, Susan cried. But then again, after the series of unfortunate events in January, a party was probably the thing that would cheer her up at least, but even that was too much to ask. Soon, the starry blanket fell, and Susan unconsciously turned on the lamp on the desk and continued to read. Advanced potions. What was she even doing? Like hell Snape would put her in Advanced Potions after she acted like a wild animal in his class on a daily basis. Suddenly, she felt a soft fuzzy mass brush against her legs. The shock cause her hair to turn pink. "Aww, I've been trying to control that for so long," Susan whined now looking under the desk to see what was rubbing against her leg. It was a small, furry, ginger mass. "Awww, Marty, don't scare me like that," Susan said, picking up the mass and sitting it in her lap. The poor guys must have been scared by all the ruckus Not five minutes later, she heard a meow. "What's the matter?" But the meowing wasn't coming from Marty, because he was fast asleep. "Whose there?!" shouted a shrill voice. Susan noticed a sandy coloured cat and a shrill-looking man. "Who is it, Mrs. Norris?" he asked to the cat. Susan looked at her pocket watch and only now realised it was twelve-thirty-nine in the morning. "Hey you! What are you still doing here?!" demanded the man. "Sorry, Mr. Filch. Lost track of time. I'll be going now," Susan said, trying to sell it with a smile. "No, I don't think so, you sneak!" he growled grabbing Susan by her cotton pink overalls. "Let's see how Snape feels about first years staying out past curfew," he muttered. "No thank you!" Susan yelled trying to free herself. "I don't wanna clean toilets again! The Slytherin bathrooms smell like shit!" she pleaded.

"What's going on here?" asked Professor McGonagall, whom was wearing a hair net and tartan dressing gown."I caught this one in the library not five minutes ago," said Filch, expecting Susan to be punished in some horrible way. "Thank you, Argus. I'll take her back to the commons," said McGonagall.

"What?! You aren't going to give her detention or take away-"

"I don't believe that's necessary. It's very evident that she simply lost track of time."

"But Minerva-

"Get back to you post, Argus."

"But-"

"Back to your post."

Filch begrudgingly left, leaving McGonagall to escort Susan back to the commons. When the got there, the party was still going strong. Naturally, McGonagall's presence brought things to a halt. Susan changed her hair to a cosy auburn before going immediately to her room. She could tell the party was over because Hermione came into her room and changed into her dressing gown.

Susan crawled into her bed and drifted off to sleep, but not an hour later, she was awoken by yelling. "Are you fucking kidding me?! What the hell's going on now?!" Perhaps Hermione would have said something if she hadn't already been awakened. They both went into the common room, hoping to find answers. "SIRIUS BLACK HELD A KNIFE OVER ME!" shouted Ron. Susan became even more red than her natural rosiness and her hair turned bright vermillion. "WHAT?! YOU WAKE EVERYONE UP IN THE WEE HOURS OF THE MORNING TO PULL AN APRIL FOOL'S JOKE IN... FEBRUARY?!" she roared. "Susan, just calm down," said Hermione, when suddenly, Professor McGonagall came in again, slamming the portrait behind her.

"I am delighted that Gryffindor won the match, but this is getting ridiculous! Percy, I expected better of you!"

"I certainly didn't authorise this, Professor!" said Percy, puffing himself up while Susan rolled her eyes. "Damn Weasleys... Always trying to make themselves look better..." she muttered. "How do you know that? The Weasley family stretches further than you would believe and you've only seen Ron and Percy, and even then, you barely know them," Hermione said in a matter-of-fact way. Before Susan could even say anything back, Ron made an even bigger spectacle of himself. "IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE! SIRUS BLACK WAS STANDING OVER ME HOLDING A KNIFE!" he shouted. "No he wasn't! How could he even get in here? This isn't exactly a picnic!" Susan stated, but Ron merely glanced at her and looked back at Percy and McGonagall. But sure enough, Sir Cadogan confirmed that he had let someone in, but this person had all of the weeks passwords. "Neville..." Susan immediately thought. And sure enough, he was the one to be scolded for it.

The following morning, it was no surprise that Neville both lost his Hogsmeade privileges and received a howler from his grandmother. Susan could only vaguely remember getting a howler once from her mother and sister after biting another kid at wizard camp when she was 8. She watched Neville run out of the room as it opened, but she was worried about other things. "NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM, YOU INCOMPETENT BOY! LETTING SIRIUS BLACK OF ALL PEOPLE INTO YOUR COMMON ROOM! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT KIND OF DANGER YOU PUT YOUR CLASSMATES IN?! YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE WHEN YOU-" Susan finally ended this by drowning the howler into her orange juice. "You can come back in, now!" she shouted to Neville. He hesitantly came back in, but Susan still seemed worried. "Are you okay?" asked Neville, worried that the howler would spring back to life. Susan finally broke down in tears. "Oh Neville! Marty is gone! I looked all over the commons, in the girl's dorms and even the boy's dorms! What if Sirius Black killed him?!" she exclaimed crying. "Umm... I'm sure he's... fine..." Neville said while awkwardly patting Susan's back. Susan got up from her seat. "I'm not hungry. I'm going to find Marty..." and with that, she was gone.

Whilst the third years were enjoying Honeydukes sweets and god knows what else, Susan was worrying about the whereabouts of her little kitten. You couldn't deny that Marty has a thin physique and was no more than two years old. "Marty!" Susan called over and over again. She turned her hair ginger and waved it under ledges hoping to coax the kitten out. Since her hair was so short, it looked as if she had her ear to the floor. "Hey Susan!" called Neville. "Since you're a first year, you can't go to Hogsmeade either, right? Why don't I help you find your cat?" he offered bashfully. "I'd like that..." Susan said, smiling at him.

After about an hour of looking, she broke down. She cried and cried and cried. Neville tried to console her, but truth be told, he had no idea what to do. "Thank you so much..." Susan said tearfully.

"Huh?"

"Thank you so much for helping me find my cat... Even though, _sob,_ we didn't, _sob, _find him... It means a lot that you, _sob, _came to help..."

"Oh... erm... No problem... Anytime..."

"Maybe, _sob,_ we'll find him, _sob, _soon..."

"I'm sure we will!" said Neville confidently, trying to cheer Susan up. "He can't be that far gone without somebody finding him! It's a pretty big castle! Let's search for him a little while longer!" he added.

And they did. They spent the entire day searching for Marty, but to no avail. For the next few days, once classes were over, they'd search for Marty. Just Susan and Neville. Every so often, a student would offer their help or Draco would come in to make a snide comment about how Sirius Black had already eaten the kitten or something of that nature. This always left Susan in tears, but she and Neville continued to look... until Susan overheard Hermione reading a letter from Hagrid. He lost his case. Buckbeak was to be executed. Now Susan was visibly shaking angry. "You're never gonna find your precious kitty!" shrieked Pansy, whom had walked with Draco to torment Susan about her cat. "Shut up, bitch!" Susan roared as her hair turned bright red. "Don't call me a bitch!" shrieked Pansy. And that wasn't the end of it, and insults were thrown both ways until it escalated to physical fighting. Scratching, kicking, punching, everything. Until finally, there was an intervention. "What on earth is going on here?" asked Dumbledore. But this didn't need explaining. It was very clear what was happening. "Miss Parkinson, Miss Henkel, my office.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter XI: The Feline Pursuit

Dumbledore said nothing to either Pansy or Susan the whole way to the office. Susan initially wondered how the headmaster himself would know about this when there are thousands of students... until she realised that there was a crowd heading back to their classes. "I can't believe that people would actually chant for a third year to fight a first year. Seems pretty lopsided to me," said Ernie Macmillan to his friend, Justin Finch-Fletchley on their way to their classes.

This had to be the longest, most uncomfortable walk Susan had taken. Her entire body was sweating. She was certain that she'd be expelled. When they got to the Headmaster's Tower, Susan felt like she was going to faint. Suddenly, a stone gargoyle looked at the three. "Password?" asked the creature. "Knotbutckets," Dumbledore replied. Once they got into the office, they were met by a very angry McGonagall and a perhaps equally angry Snape, but then again, it was too hard to tell because of his emotionlessness. "I've informed your heads of house that you will have detention with them for an entire month. Do not expect me to be this kind in the future. I am very disappointed in you both," said Dumbledore in a very stern voice. "Well, come along, Susan," McGonagall said in a snappy voice. "You should be ashamed of yourself for spoiling Gryffindor's victory, you ruffian sailor-mouth!" Susan rolled her eyes and looked over at Pansy, who had a smirk on her face. "Come along, Miss Parkinson," said Snape directly. Naturally, he was going to let Pansy off easy because she was a Slytherin. McGonagall would do no such thing for Susan. "How could you do such a thing? Do you know how long women have been trying to get away from the stereotype of cat fights? Do you have any idea how people are going to see you because of this?" McGonagall asked angrily. "I'm sorry..." Susan mumbled. "Well the damage is done. Your detention starts tomorrow. Good day, Miss Henkel," said McGonagall before striding off whilst still fuming.

Feeling somewhat disappointed in herself, Susan went up to the tower to think things over. "Password?" asked the Fat Lady. "Hey. I'm sorry i called you fat..." Susan said tearfully."Oh, it's all right, don't cry. Oh, hey. Here comes your friend right now," said the Fat Lady comfortingly. "Hi Susan... erm... D-do you still wanna find your cat?" asked Neville bashfully. "Of course," Susan said, wiping her tears. "A cat?" asked the Fat Lady curiously. Susan nodded. "You seen him?" she asked. "The other portraits keep talking about a ginger cat that keeps wandering around the second floor girls room." Suddenly, the hairs on the back of Neville's neck went straight up. "Th-that's where... Moaning Myrtle... Sh-she haunts that bathroom!" Susan rolled up her sleeves. "Well no stupid ghost is gonna spirit my cat away!" she yelled. "Come on! Let's go get him!" Before Neville could even protest going to the bathroom with Moaning Myrtle, Susan dashed down the moving staircase, nearly falling while doing so.

Approaching the second floor, Susan saw two very familiar faces. "Parkinson!" she yelled angrily, her hair colour changing from ginger, which she had done to lure her cat, to a fiery red. "I hope Snape gives you the toilets!" Suddenly the girl hid behind the other familiar face. "This isn't Pansy," the girl said in a completely disinterested tone. It was very clear she didn't care much for drama. "Hey! I know who you are!" Susan said, making a heel-turn from angry to joyous, even changing her hair colour to a hot pink. "You take Alchemic Studies in my mum's class, right?" Susan asked giddily, to which the girl nodded. "I'm Susan. Susan Henkel," Susan said holding out her hand. "Name's Kempley Vititious. Nice to meet you, Susan," she said, not seeming nearly as friendly as Susan was. Susan then turned to the other girl. "I'm sorry I jumped at you. What's your name?" she asked. The answer to this was very unclear and every time Susan asked her to repeat herself, she got quieter. "Dringy? Is that your name?" Susan asked for confirmation. It was hard to get a clear answer, because anything she said sounded like squeaking at that point. "Her name is Drenchie," said Kempley. Drenchie. What an odd name. "Why aren't you in Hogsmeade?" asked Neville curiously to Kemley. "Why aren't you?" she replied, knowing exactly what happened. She couldn't ignore the howler. It was far too loud. "Anyway, what are you up to?" she asked after an awkward silence. "Susan lost her cat and I'm helping her find it..." Neville said bashfully. "Wanna help?" Susan asked, looking hopefully at the two. "Sure... Why not? Not like I have anything better to do," Kempley said in a half-hearted way. "You in, Drench?" she asked. Drenchie shuffled uncomfortably and twiddled her thumbs before giving a slight nod. "Uhh... sure..." With that Susan leapt for joy and shouted, "To Moaning Myrtle's Bathroom!" The four made their way there with mixed expressions ranging from terrified to excited top confused and even to disinterested entirely.

Once they entered the bathroom, they were immediately met by the ghost. "What do you want?" she asked tearfully. "My name is Susan Henkel and I'm looking for a cat named Marty," Susan said, looking hopefully at Myrtle. "A cat? Well I saw a cat and it hissed at me and tried to pounce me!" Myrtle exclaimed tearfully. "Oh that horrible orange furball!" Before anyone could react, a loud shriek was heard not 30 seconds away from the bathroom. "A rat!" Romilda shouted in a disgusted manner. She was dangling from a lamp post, and was barely holding on at that. "Scabbers!" Susan shouted. "H-how do you know it's really Scabbers and not just some regular rat? R-ron said Scabbers was eaten," Neville said with a look of utter shock. Susan picked the rat up by his tail. "See his hand? Scabbers is missing a finger. I've been hunting him long enough to know that. Oh boy! This is a great day! I get to find my cat AND kill Scabbers! I think I'll smash him onto the ground! What difference does it make if Ron already thinks he's dead, right?" Susan asked with a twisted smile. "Put him down, kid," Kempley said with a somewhat stern look as Susan raised a panicking Scabbers above her head. But before she could even do anything, an orange mass pounced on Susan, causing her to fall over. Scabbers managed to free himself with what Susan identified as Crookshanks in pursuit. "That's the cat that pounced me!" Myrtle cried. Well it certainly couldn't have been Marty, seeing as how Crookshanks is possibly ten times his size. "Sorry to bother you..." Susan said in disappointment. "Hey kid, you should probably get down from there," Kempley said to Romilda, who was still clutching to the lamp post. "Damn it!" Susan yelled in frustration. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" she yelled, now in tears. "Marty is dead isn't he?" she asked tearfully. "We'll find him," Neville said, trying to comfort the girl before she sprinted off.

Susan made it to the other side of the castle where she cried for about a half hour before being rudely interrupted. "AHEM!" Susan turned around and saw the very last person she wanted to see in this moment; Snape. "Does this disgusting whelp belong to you?" he asked, holding a little ginger kitten by the nape of it's neck. "Marty!" Susan shouted in joy. "I'll take that as a yes," he said dropping the feline on the floor. Marty quickly leapt into Susan's arms. "I found him lurking outside of my office. By the way, you'll be happy to know that Miss Parkinson doesn't begin her detention until next week," Snape said, trying to stir up negative emotions in Susan, but it wouldn't work. She was all too thrilled to know Marty had not been killed by Sirius Black or eaten by centaurs or something ridiculous like that. It was almost like the time Cedric's pet tortoise went missing only to be found under a desk in his father's study. It was quite humorous for the entire family and for Susan. Especially because Cedric was only 9 and knew that tortoises had been known to outlive humans, so they therefore had a contest of who would live longer. Susan had heard about a tortoise who lived to be two-hundred and twenty-six. "Heh heh... two-hundred and twenty-six year old tortoise..."

"By the way, Henkel," Snape said, gaining Susan's attention back. "Your mother wishes to speak with you," he said before striding off. And so, with Marty in her arms, Susan went to her mother's office. The sheer amount of runes and transmutation circles on parchment paper could make that place a into bloody museum. "Mum? You wanted to see me?" asked Susan with a smile painted on her face. "Susan, what was this I hear about you going into the boy's dormitories?" asked Henkel in a very stern manner. "I was looking for Marty," said Susan, not realising how angry her mother was. "Susan! You disobeyed me! You said you'd stay out of trouble and you didn't!" Ezsmarelda said angrily. "B-but, mum, you said I couldn't go in there as long as I was drawing breath. I was holding my breath using a charm that Professor Flitwick taught me," Susan said in a matter-of-fact way. Ezsmarelda palmed her face and pinched her eyebrows. "Okay, let me rephrase that. You are not allowed in the boy's dorms. Period." With that, Ezsmarelda stood up.

"But, mum-"

"But nothing! You are never allowed in the boy's dorms and that's the final word I'll have on the subject!"

"But what about Marty?"

"Too bad! Learn to keep up with your pets!"

This left Susan to bolt off in tears. The loud trotting of her Mary-Janes echoes through the halls loud and clear. It finally stopped when she tripped over her school robes. "Oh dear! Are you all right?" Susan looked up and saw Professor Lupin. "I hate my mum! She's such an evil bitch!" Susan said tearfully. "Hey! Susan! Look at me! D-don't look at the floor. Susan, look at me! Susan, don't ever say that! Your mother has done everything in her power to protect you! She has your best interest, Susan! Look at me! Susan, pouting like a five year old won't help anything! You need to listen! Everything that Ezsmarelda has ever done was for you! There is not a word that she's ever said that wasn't speaking for your better being!" Susan stood up and her hair turned fiery red. She intended to make it a point that she was angry. "Well I certainly hope that's true, because those are the last words that she'll ever get to say to me!" and with that, she stormed off, leaving Marty to follow behind


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter XII: The Mischievous Mocha

The next day was detention, and Susan's every sweep was filled with anger. "Bastard... Telling me what to think of my mum..." she muttered. "Who the hell does he think he is? It's his goddamn fault McGonagall is making me sweep the dungeon floors!"

Fortunately, her tirade and blaming Lupin for every misfortune that befell her only lasted for a few moments before she heard jingling coming from the other end of the hall. Perhaps she wouldn't have been so terrified if the dungeons weren't nearly pitch black. "Who's there?" she asked in a terrified voice. She heard nothing but jingles. Susan began to rush herself along to be done with the dungeons as soon as possible. Suddenly, a thought occurred to Susan. What if Ron was telling the truth about Sirius Black being in the commons holding a knife over him? That thought alone made Susan tremendously frightened. "Who's there?!" she demanded. This was met with a brief period of silence and then the jingling resumed. Susan yanked out her wand and pointed it at the dead space. "I won't ask again! Identify yourself or I'll be forced to kick your ass!" she said whilst trembling. But the jingling came closer and not a word was uttered. Susan was too terrified to endure any more of this. "LUMOS MAXIMA!" In that blinding light, a moderately-sized coffee brown cat was prancing about to and fro.

"Mocha! Oh, I should have known. Leave it to you to scare the crap out of me with your antics!" Susan said in a slightly annoyed manner. "Where's Rosemary, hmmm? Where's your mummy?" she asked picking her up and poking the bell on her collar, confirming that this was indeed the ringing she was hearing. Mocha began swishing her tail and made a face as if to say, "Put me down." She wasn't a big fan of being carried around. "Let's go find your mummy," Susan said, gently setting her on the ground.

Once Susan got up on the higher levels, it occurred to her that it was late and that she had missed lunch. She'd been working since breakfast. 5:43 was on the clock. Dinner was just around the corner. The constantly changing stairs were making it difficult to get upstairs and keep up with Mocha, and because she insisted upon not being manhandled, she was practically the biggest nuisance that Susan has had to deal with. And Merlin knows that if Susan of all people is annoyed by something, it's annoying. Frankly, Rosemary has an astounding level of patience, but the off-trade is that her feelings are very easily hurt. In the commons, she overheard Dean say that Rosemary had been crying non-stop since Susan took her diary. She had only stopped briefly to tell Susan about her not being invited to the party. This whole thing made her feel horrible and she decided not to do that again. Ever. Although, her description of a time-turner was fairly vague. What was it? What did it do? How did it help her get to all of her classes? Perhaps these questions would reman unanswered. For that matter, maybe she should stop trying to kill Scabbers and quit worrying about that ring she saw on both Luna Lovegood and Mrs. Norris' collar. Maybe it was just a fashion trend that she wasn't aware of. Maybe Ron truly was lying about Sirius Black holding a knife over him. As well, maybe she just needed to accept that Buckbeak was to be executed. Maybe he really did attack Draco. Approaching the third set of stairs, Susan wondered why she was so defeated and what made her decide to just outright give up. Perhaps it was because she was looking for something exciting to happen and nothing has, and she was well into the year. Besides that, her antics had landed her into enough trouble. It was time to retire.

Once she was on ground level, she heard a very familiar voice call her name. "Susan! There you are! Where were you at lunch?" Susan turned around and saw it was Neville who had asked that and Luna was standing next to him. "I was in detention," Susan said in a sheepish manner. "Well then, let's go to dinner," said Luna, whom was paying more attention to an odd hinge in an armour suit. "Luna, what's with the ring?" asked Susan, as if in a way to humour herself that something was happening. "It was my mum's wedding ring..." Luna said, playing with the hinge. "Oh, that's funny, because I was Mrs. Norris wearing the exact same ring," Susan said raising a brow, now getting the feeling in the back of her head that she was onto something. All of a sudden, Luna got a strange, but suspicious look on her face. "Yeah, I let her wear it sometimes. She's a cute kitty," Luna said, sounding somewhat apprehensive. "Anyway, let's head to dinner," Neville said, not having a clue what was going on. "Who's that kitty?" Luna asked. "That's Mocha, my sister's cat," Susan said making sure she hadn't strayed too far. In the Great Hall, Susan managed not to catch too many eyes about her missing lunch. Susan made sure to eat plenty so she wouldn't be too hungry the next morning. She looked over at the Ravenclaw table to see that Mocha had made it safely over to her owner.

After dinner, Susan went to her dorm. Thankfully, the way her detention was arranged, she wouldn't have to serve on Sundays, so she'd have the whole day of tomorrow to herself. However, this was a double-edged sword. Because of Sirius Black's second break-in, there was a tighter curfew, more security, and she wouldn't be allowed anywhere outside of the castle in the evenings. Thankfully, Susan had Mocha's company, wanted or otherwise. Mostly the latter. The next day, Susan went down to breakfast and felt a furry mass brushing her legs. Surely enough, it was Mocha. The girl brushed her back against Susan's feet. "Don't bother me!" hissed Susan. "Go play with your mummy!" But Mocha wouldn't desist. It continues as Susan tried to eat her sausage.

There were two things about Mocha that people couldn't stand. She was annoying, and she caused more trouble than the Weasley Twins. Going out to the courtyard, Susan was followed closely by Mocha. Feeling the wind brush against her face and her hair, which was now icy blue, Susan closed her turquoise eyes and thought about how suddenly her life had changed. She was so used to being home schooled and not having to be around people and now that was gone. She liked being alone a little more than what she led on when she got her acceptance letter. After tuning out Mocha's whining, she felt the wind gently rotate her earrings. She never wore the same earrings every day. Today's earrings were amethyst crystals shaped like tear drops. She laid on the lawn and brushed her fingers through the tufts. The lush green grass beneath her hand. It was a nice, peaceful moment... At least until she saw the grass curl up and die beneath her very being. Suddenly, she felt so cold, like the north pole was standing behind her, and there was this feeling of utter despair crawling up her neck. Susan also noticed that Mocha's meowing had turned to hissing. Susan turned around and noticed a dementor hovering right over her, but before she could react, she suddenly drifted away.

"Call an ambulance, Amos!"

"Nadea, go and help Ezsmarelda carry Susan! Cedric, go and make sure Rosemary is okay!"

"Susan, say something!"

"Mummy, my stomach hurts really bad!"

"I know! Don't worry! The paramedics will be here soon!"

This was a horrifying memory. The werewolf attack that happened to Susan earlier on that fateful day also offset her appendicitis. The werewolf had crushed her stomach right in that area, speeding up the process. Ezsmarelda had just sent Amos to get an ambulance. Cedric couldn't help but think that this was his fault. If she hadn't played hide and seek, she wouldn't have been angry enough to storm off into the woods. "This is all my fault," Cedric said broodingly. "Cedric, look at me! This is no one's fault!" Ezsmarelda said, desperately trying to soothe her daughter's pain and Nadea holding a cool washcloth over her forehead, but Cedric still looked unsure. "Cedric, can you be a big boy and go make sure Rosemary is okay?" asked Nadea. "Yes, Mum." With that, he went upstairs and saw a crying Rosemary. Poor Rosemary was only seven. "Is she gonna die," she asked. "N-no, of course not..." Cedric said, a little unsure of the answer himself. "Come on in," said Amos. Rosemary watched in horror as her sister was placed on the gurney and loaded into the ambulance.

Susan was writhing in pain and cried and cried. "I know it hurts, we'll be there soon," one Paramedic said. Ezsmarelda managed to drive everyone to the hospital. After waiting in emotional agony for half an hour, she learned that her daughter is in need of an appendectomy. She eagerly consented, sending Susan off to the OR.

At this point, Susan was slipping in an out of consciousness. She felt an IV poke her arm and finally drifted off. But something was strange... she woke up while they were still operating on her. She could feel every single cut and slice. "She's awake, doctor!" said one doctor in a panicked voice. "Well anaesthetise her again!" Hurriedly, the other doctor did so. But he was soon to discover that he didn't put anaesthesia in her system. "She's flat-lining! We're losing her, doctor!" The medicine that was fed through that IV tube... was Succinylcholine. This was a drug used to paralyse patients for tracheal intubation or to euthanise horses, and now it was coursing though a four-year-old's veins.

"We're losing her, doctor!"

"I heard you the first time! Just! I've almost got the bloody thing out! Try oxygenation!" the surgeon said, clamping a few more vessels shut before proceeding to remove the appendix. "Right away, doctor!" They pumped air in and out of her chest, but it only worked for a few moments. Thankfully, without losing his cool too much, the surgeon managed to stitch Susan up, placing the swollen appendix in the metal pan, only shortly before Susan completely flat lined.

"Wheel me the defibrillator!"

"But that's against protocol!"

"Protocol went out the window when her heart stopped! Now give me 200 joules! Stat!"

"Charging 200 joules, doctor!"

"All right everyone! Clear!"

"Expecto Patronum!" the two words sounded mixed together as Susan suddenly became aware of her current surroundings. Professor Lupin had just sent a dementor packing with some sort of silver charm, and Mocha was licking her face. She suddenly gasped and took a huge breath, panting afterwards. "Are you all right, Susan," Lupin asked. She nodded and after becoming a little more lucid, Lupin gave her some liquorice. "It's from Honeydukes. I know you don't like chocolate, but I know this will make you feel better," Lupin said, as Susan managed to eat the liquorice without much difficulty. Quickly, the warmth returned to her freezing body and she had a much easier time breathing, but it was clear Susan had something on her mind. "Can we talk?" she asked him. "Of course. Let's get to my office and then I'm all ears," Lupin said.

Once they got into his office, Susan's face became very sober. "Well, go on. Have a seat," Lupin said gesturing to a chair. Susan took a seat, not changing her expression. "You wanna know why my boggart is a werewolf?" Susan asked. "Why is that?" Lupin asked. Susan stood up, turned around, unbuttoned the top of her dress and pulled it down, revealing three large scratch marks on her back. "I know how you got those scratch marks on your face," Susan said, causing Lupin to tug at the collar of his shirt nervously. "You were attacked by a werewolf, too, weren't you?" she asked. "Yes, Susan. I was." Lupin said with a slight nod. "Thankfully I wasn't bitten," Susan said, just as she noticed Mocha hissing at the door as if to tell whatever was here to go away. Before Susan could react or Lupin could notice what was going on, the door was forced open, revealing a very angry Strong. "Listen you disgusting beast! I know what you are and I-" Strong suddenly stopped and looked at Susan frantically buttoning up her dress. His eyes became wide with disgust and he turned to Lupin once again. "You sick, disgusting pervert!" he spat out just as soon as Susan finished buttoning her dress. "What makes him a pervert?" asked Susan. "You pulled down your dress for him!" Strong said in a disgusted tone. "Well I wasn't showing him my boobs or anything. He was looking at scars on my back," Susan said in a matter-of-fact way. Strong gave a sharp "Hmph!" before leaving and slamming the door behind him.

"Sheesh, what's his bloody problem?"

"Susan, that man has a twisted view of the world. I suggest you stay as far away from him as possible."

"Professor Strong? Twisted?"

"Yes, Susan. That man has serious issues and... He's dangerous, all right?"

"What on earth would make you say that?"

"Susan, I want your word that you won't speak to him unless you absolutely have to."

"Yes, sir."

"Good."

Just then, in came Frank and Christina. "Hey there, Professor!" said Frank. "Susan!" called Christina, picking her up. "What's this I hear about you getting detention?" she asked. "I punched Pansy Parkinson in her ugly face!" Susan said with a pout. "High five!" said Christina as she happily high-fived Susan. "Miss Grey, are you encouraging Susan to behave this way?" asked Lupin with a shocked face. "Um, no, but that bitch deserved it!" said Christina. "Christina! Watch your mouth!" said Lupin firmly. "Yeah Christina," Frank added teasingly, fixing his blonde hair. "Don't curse in front of the teacher! And let me carry Susan! It's my turn!" Christina turned around. "No! You got to carry her piggyback last time and it's my turn!" she said. "Besides, she likes me better, right Susan?" Susan nodded and then turned to Frank. "Sorry, but I like Chrissie better because she's more awesome," Susan said with a puppy face as her hair turned magenta. "Hey Susan, how are you able to change your hair colour like that?" asked Frank. "Oh! I'm partly metamorphmagus!" Susan said as Christina spun her around. "Funny you should mention that. We were just studying metamorphmagus last Friday," said Lupin. "Does this mean you can change your appearance at will?" asked Christina. "Not exactly," Susan replied. "If I could do that, I'd be a whole lot taller. As far as I know, I can only change the colour and texture of my hair and the shape of my nose."

"Oh!" interjected Lupin suddenly. "I almost forgot..." he mumbled as he began sifting though his desk. "It's in here somewhere... Aha!" he said once he pulled out a small box with a tinsel bow on it. "Happy Birthday, Susan!" he said, handing it to the girl, whose face and hair had flushed pink with surprise. "Really?" she asked. "Well it IS March the fifteenth, right? And you ARE twelve years old as of today, right?" he asked, already knowing the answers were yes and yes. Susan took the box and hugged him, bursting into tears. "Thank you so much! I've never been given a gift by my teachers before!" she said tearfully. "Wait until you open it," Lupin said, already feeling confident she'd like it. Carefully, Susan unwrapped the gift. This is why birthdays and Christmases were a hassle. She would always neatly take off the wrapping paper and fold it up. She had a habit of collecting it. Once she was done doing that, she saw a small jewelry case. She opened it and inside was a gemstone necklace. "It's beautiful..." she said putting it on. Once she wiped the tears from her rosy cheeks and cleared the fog from her glasses, she looked closely at the gemstone. It was green with splotches of crimson red. "What kind of stone is this?" Susan asked curiously. "It's a bloodstone. The stone of the Pisces, your zodiac birth sign, and the month you were born. People call it the Martyr's stone because they say that when Jesus was crucified, his blood sunk into the ground, creating this stone and-"

"And the moral of the story is?" interjected Christina. "Ahh... Ahem... Well, sorry about that. Just the teacher in me, I suppose," said Lupin, adjusting his tie. "Wow... I didn't know the blood of Christ was in this stone," Susan said in awe as she began licking it. "What are you doing?" Lupin asked while attempting to stifle laughter from the girl's sudden behaviour. "Mum said the blood of Christ was wine. I wanna see what wine tastes like." Lupin could no longer hold back and busted into uproarious laughter. "It's symbolic, Susan," Lupin said once he pulled himself together. "Just as his body wasn't made out of bread, his blood wasn't made from wine. It's meant to be symbolic." Susan's face made it all too clear that this had just occurred to her. "Ohhhhh... No wonder he didn't rot away a week after being born," said Susan. Frank and Christina were now red in the face with laughter. Susan's whole face was now completely magenta, and that was saying something considering she had a naturally rosy complexion. Her doctor even seems to believe that she may have psoriasis. "If I were you, I'd work on those essays," Lupin said sternly to the two. "Right!" Christina said, dragging Frank out to the library, where they stayed for about an hour before realising they didn't have an essay to turn in.

"Essay?" Susan asked. "There is none," said Lupin. "I just wanted to get rid of them so I could talk to you heart to heart." Susan blinked her eyes in confusion. "Have a seat," Lupin said, gesturing to a chair. Susan took a seat across from her teacher before he took a deep breath. "Do you know why your mother wanted you not to go into the boy's dorms?" He asked to which Susan shrugged her shoulders. "No, I don't."

"Susan, I went to school with your mother back in the day. I've known her for a while. Her and were something of good friends. She trusted me enough to tell me anything."

"And?"

"And one day... Your father... Jim... whom at the time was your mothers boyfriend... They..."

"Spit it out, already!"

"When your mother was a seventh year... At only seventeen... She became pregnant with your sister... Of course she did everything to hide it... but... Susan, do you realise how fast your life will be ruined if you become pregnant?"

"How should I know? Mum won't tell me how babies are made!"

"That's for your own good. It takes a lot of money to raise a child. Your grandfather... Her father... died when Ezsmarelda was eleven. Her mother didn't have her parents or family to rely on... They weren't all that happy about her marring a blood traitor."

"Blood traitor?"

"It's someone whom believes that all witches and wizards of all blood statuses are equal."

"Does that make me one?"

"Yes, but, I prefer not to use that word because I think the concept of someone being a traitor because they aren't a prejudice is comparable to racism... Which is essentially what pure-blood supremacy is."

"Pure-blood supremacy?"

"It's when someone believes that muggleborns are trash and that pure-bloods are of higher status."

"How could someone be of lesser worth or value because of whether or not their parents are wizards? That shouldn't be the judge of whether or not you mean something! People can do great things regardless of their blood-status!"

"That's a refreshing thought after the loads of garbage I heard Mr. Malfoy uttering earlier when I was teaching. I would infer that he learned it from his father. Susan, no matter what anyone else tells you, what you've just said is the exact truth."

"Really?"

"Really. Look, Susan, back on track, my point is, your mother has your best interest at heart which is why she forbade you from the boy's common room. Now if you'll excuse me, I think we have a visitor."

Lupin got up briefly and went to the cupboard in the next room, which Romilda Vane was hiding. "She's my best friend!" Romilda blurted. "Wall-walking charm?" asked Lupin, to which Romilda shamefully admitted.

Susan noticed a peculiar piece of parchment from the corner of her eyes, just sitting on Lupin's desk. It was rolled up, but Susan could see the words "Marauder's Map" on the top. By eavesdropping on conversations Harry was having with the Weasley twins, Susan knew what it was, and could infer that Lupin found him out. Susan's mind began hatching devious thoughts on achieving the marauder's map, although Susan barred such thoughts, for she told herself that there was no great mystery to solve at Hogwarts, but her curiosity beckoned her and won out. Without missing a beat, and thankfully before Lupin came back with Romilda, Susan grabbed the parchment and stuffed it in her pocket.

"Now off you go, Miss Vane. Miss Henkel and I her having a private conversation," said Lupin, sending Romilda away, just as Susan closed her backpack. "Sorry about that. What were we talking about?"

"We were talking about why my mum doesn't want me in the common room."

"Oh yes... I was saying... errm... Listen Susan, your mother does care about you and your sister. It may not look it, but she really cares for you."

"I suppose I owe her an apology?"

"I would think so."

"I'll go do that now..." and with that, Susan left and strode to her mother's office. Once she got there, Susan heard arguing coming from inside the office.

"That child is an abomination! She constantly disrupts my class, she swears like a sailor, she deliberately makes a simple potion into a catastrophic disaster, and she can't stay out of trouble!"

"She's only eleven. She'll grow up."

"Well I should hope so. If she doesn't, I'll see to it that she's expelled."

Just then, a very angry Snape came bolting out of Henkel's office and gave an appalled looking Susan a scowl before striding off. Susan blew a raspberry in his direction before entering her mother's office.

"Mum, I'm sorry for misbehaving..." Susan said, making it clear that she had put her tail between her legs. "That's all right. You were only looking for your cat. It's not like you were looking for trouble."

Henkel seemed uncharacteristically bothered by what Snape had said to her. Normally, she wouldn't care what people had said to her and would even make sharp comebacks, which earned her a reputation as an arrogant she-devil. Susan looked apologetically at her mother, not because she didn't think she believed she was sorry, but because she felt bothered by the fact that Snape got to her so easily. Whatever he said, he must have said something just awful. "I really am sorry," she insisted. "It's fine. I have work to do... Papers to grade. You'd best be off," Henkel said, pretty much shooing Susan out of her office.

Before Susan could make heads or tails of what just happened, she saw Mocha sitting at the end of the hall. "Awwww. What are you doing here? Rosemary's too busy studying? Do you miss mummy?" Susan asked picking her up. It's true, Rosemary had so many classes that she often did homework on the weekends. Susan noticed that the map that she had taken from Lupin's office was protruding from her pocket. "Oh what the heck!" Susan said, taking the map from her pocket and her wand from behind her ear. "Now what was it Fred said..." Susan thought , scratching her head with the wand. "Oh yeah! I solemnly swear I'm up to no good?" Susan asked, unsure when she was casting the spell. Of course, Mocha said nothing, but luckily, she had hit it right on the nose. "Thank goodness for eavesdropping!" Susan said victoriously. There were five names on the map. Standing still were the names "Mocha" and "Susan Henkel", but approaching them were three names. One familiar, and the other two not so much. "Rosemary Henkel", "Peter Pettigrew" and "Morticia Black" were there, plain as day on the map. Whomever these people were, Susan couldn't let them know that she had such a thing in her possession. Oh the things her sister would do if she had found out that she had stolen from Lupin. Alas, she couldn't remember how to make it look like a normal piece of parchment. Quickly, she crumpled it up and stuffed it in her pocket.

Susan was actually somewhat excited to see what these new people looked like. Morticia was probably from the House of Black and therefore a pureblood. As for Peter, she didn't know what to expect. It didn't matter what she expected anyway, because she was thoroughly disappointed to see Rosemary and Luna Lovegood, whom was holding Scabbers in a milk jug. "Hi, Sis!" Susan said eagerly, attempting to mask her disappointment. "Okay, what were you expecting?" asked Rosemary, offhandedly picking up Mocha.

"What?"

"I've known that whole 'trying not to show how disappointed you are' look since you were five."

"Well maybe you'd better know it better because I'm not disappointed."

"Whatever. I have to get back to the commons with Luna once she gives the milk jug to Hagrid. I'm sure he'll get it back to Ron."

With that, Rosemary hurried off with Luna while Mocha tailed behind them, and Susan decided to head back to her own commons. The next day, after attending classes and serving detention, Susan returned to her dorm to retire, only to face a very angry Hermione. "Hermy, what's wrong?" Susan asked. "What's wrong?! What's wrong?!" Hermione yelled, pushing her bushy hair out of her face. "I missed Charms class! Cheering Charms! All because of Malfoy! On top of that, I've just about had it with Trelawney! I am never setting foot in that rubbish factory she calls a classroom ever again!" and with that, Hemione slammed her Arithmancy book on the table and began to study. "My day was just fabulous, too! Classes weren't that hard, Snape was just so nice and detention was a piece of cake, especially with FIlch not at all harassing me about kidnapping his stupid cat! What was her name. Mrs. Harris or something?" Hermione rolled her eyes as she took out her parchment. "You don't have to be sarcastic."

Susan lied down on her back right on the floor without bothering to climb into bed. "Well that map is a thorough rip off," Susan muttered. "What map?" asked Hermione raising a brow, hoping it wasn't the same map Harry used to sneak into Hogsmeade. Because that certainly wasn't trouble enough. "The Marauder's Map. It doesn't matter because it gives the wrong-"

"YOU TOOK WHAT?" Hermione shouted, standing up from her desk. "Give it to me! Right now!" she demanded. "Fine. Take it, you psych harpy. It's useless to-"

"PSYCHO HARPY?! I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU!" Hermione yelled, snatching the parchment. "DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TROUBLE THIS CAN GET YOU INTO?!"

"I'm gonna go into the common room where the risk of going deaf is significantly lower," Susan said, making the cuckoo sign with her finger and her ear.

No sooner than she had left than she heard a slamming of the door behind her. She went onto the couch and drifted off to sleep, thinking of the Easter holiday.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter XIII: The Godfather's Secret

Susan wondered if Lupin had known that his map was gone. After all, she made it all the way to the Easter holiday without him saying a thing. The entire ride to King's Cross Station was an unusual one to say the least. Hardly anyone was even there. "There are like ten people on this train!" Susan finally shouted. "Calm down," said Ingrid, whom was sitting in the next compartment. "Yeah, Susan... I'm, err, I'm sure there are more than ten people on this train," said Derek, whom was sitting next to her. "You should have seen the rush in the winter holiday!" said a girl with curly blonde hair, whom then turned to Susan. "Oh? Is this your girlfriend, Derek?" she asked. "Sis! Stop! She's not my girlfriend!" Derek said, blushing furiously. "I just noticed because she's wearing those earrings you bought," said the girl. "By the way, I'm Lavender. Lavender Brown. You are?"

"Susan. Susan Henkel."

"Nice to meet you, Susan. Well, I'll leave you two alone and get back to my own compartment."

With that, Lavender went back to her compartment, giggling the whole way there. Actually, the entire ride home, Lavender was giggling and staring in their compartment. "Do you think they're snogging yet, Pavarti?" she would ask almost every half hour before looking back at the two. "Dumbass blonde bimbo..." Ingrid said, before sinking her head into the Daily Prophet to avoid looking like a hypocrite, considering she was a much lighter shade of blonde than her.

As soon as the train got to King Cross Station, Susan got off the train and was suddenly lifted from the ground by a burly figure. Susan was frightened at first, until she got a good look at who it was.

"There's my little girl!"

"Daddy!"

There, stood a man with a burly but attractive figure, spiky dirty blonde hair, a suit, bluetooth and california valley sunglasses to top it all off. Rosemary came out with cat carriers on either side of her. "Carry your own cat, Susan. Really."

Susan gladly took Marty's cage as she saw Rosemary eagerly greet her father. She also saw Mocha attempting to pick at her lock in an attempt to escape.

"How's Hogwarts so far?" Jim asked Susan.

"Oh! It's amazing! There are the talking portraits and the switching staircases and the..." Susan went on and on about the astounding imagery of Hogwarts and even the house ghosts... for nearly twenty three minutes.

"Nearly headless?" Jim asked, bursting at the seams with laughter. "How the fuck is someone NEARLY headless?"

"Dad!" scolded Rosemary, staring daggers at her father. "Watch your language!"

"Oh, come off it, Rosie! A 'Shit!' here and 'Damn it!' there never hurt anyone."

Rosemary simply rolled her eyes and slammed the trunk of her father's Mercedes Benz shut once both Susan and Rosemary's trunks were accounted for. What irritated her so much was that Susan's first word was "fuck" and her father took absolutely no initiative to censor himself, and since her mother is not one to use profanity, she's clearly not to blame.

"Well, anyway, as for how someone is nearly headless," Susan said, changing the subject, "like this!" Susan pulled her head, trying to imitate Nearly Headless Nick. "Don't break your neck, there," Jim said, laughing as he started the car. "Put your seat belt on!" Rosemary commanded to Susan. "Hey hey, calm down, girlie. You know the rule. The car doesn't move until all seat belts are on!" said Jim, adjusting his seat. Susan eagerly put her seat belt on and jumped up. "Guess what?" she blurted out. "What?" Jim asked. "I'm gonna try out for Quidditch next year! Madam Hooch says I'd be a good player because I do very well in flying class and that's good considering the school brooms are not that good! I think I'll get a spot!" Susan shouted eagerly. "That's great! Hey, Rosemary also plays Quidditch! It's a Quidditch family!" Jim said, not taking his eyes off the road. "You'd be a good chaser," Rosemary said encouragingly.

"I wanna be a beater like you!"

"Oh, I'm only substitute beater this year."

"But you still kicked Hufflepuff's butt when you were up, even if you were a substitute!"

"No, we won because Rickett's been nursing a crush on me since '91. Too bad he's always been so shy about it."

"Rickett?"

"Anthony Rickett. He's on the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team."

"Ohhhhhhhh!"

The car ride went smoothly with recapitulation of school all the way home. Once they got in the house, both Susan and Rosemary went straight to bed, seeing as how it was half past midnight and Jim had spent an entire hour at a burger joint on the way home. All Rosemary had was a small root beer while both Jim and Susan stuffed their faces with thick, juicy cheeseburgers and tall sodas.

Once Susan got to her room, she changed into her fluffy pink panda pyjamas, crawled into bed and dozed off. Rosemary went into her bedroom and changed into her night gown before getting into bed and dozing off.

The next morning, Susan lazily crawled out of bed and walked into the hall where she bumped into her sister. "Morning, Rose," she said, groggily. "Good morning," she replied. "Dad seems so happy..." Susan thought to herself. "I wonder if he even knows about the miscarriage..."

The two stumbled down the stairs as if they were corpses being strung up like marionettes. Once they were in the kitchen, they were greeted with the smell of bacon and eggs. "Morning, daddy!" Susan said in a bright cheerful tone, despite her morning fatigue.

"Good morning, Susan. Good morning, Rose. I made you both breakfast."

"Smells delicious," said Rosemary, still waking up. On the contrary, Susan got right into her breakfast. She intended to finish as soon as possible so that she could that she could get to the bottom of things. Why Lupin was so protective of her. Why her mother was more high-strung than usual. Why he was butting so much into Susan's life to begin with.

Once Susan finished her breakfast, she went into her bedroom and into the bathroom inside. Once she showered, she got dressed and went into her parents' room. This room was off-limits while they weren't in there, but she was there anyway. Susan's mum was hiding something about Lupin, and she'd be damned if she wasn't going to find out what it was. Susan took out her wand and put that unlocking charm she learned to the test. "Alohamora!" and just like that, the door to Henkel's private study opened. Everything was neat, clean and organised. Three things Susan simply wasn't. Thankfully, since the study was so small, she didn't have to look far before she found a metallic lock box on the desk. A simple flick of the wand and an "alohamora" and that, too, was wide open. Perhaps Henkel should have factored in that she has two witches for children if she didn't want her things to be rifled through. On that same note, this was one of the few charm spells Susan could do successfully. Charms wasn't her strong point, but what she could do, she could do amazingly. Susan gently emptied the lock box and was immediately met with shock. There's no way she could have known to expect this.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter XIV: A Stark Confrontation

Susan dropped the lock box as if there were insects on it. She was in such a state of shock that you could tap her on the shoulder and she would fall. What got her attention in such a manner was a photo that was sitting on top of the other things. This photo had a young, scarlet-haired woman donned in a wedding dress and holding a bouquet being embraced by blonde young man in a tux. She knew that this was her mother and father on the day of their wedding. What shocked her was the fact that there was another young man in the photo. This young man had scars everywhere on his body and was fairly grey-faced. Susan immediately recognised the man as Professor Lupin. She knew all too well it couldn't be anyone else. He looked too much like the Lupin that Susan had come to know. Clearly, by looking at this photo, she had been lied to, and it was infuriating. She shoved the photo into her pocket, put the other stuff back in the box without examining it, and left the study, fuming all the while. Susan was so angry that she ran and ran and ran, unmindful of where she was. In fact, she didn't stop until she was completely out of breath and literally could not take another step.

Susan then collapsed on the ground and allowed the world to spin around her until she could catch her breath. When she had finally finished recuperating, she only needed to glance at her surroundings to know where she was. The woods. Right where she was attacked by the werewolf. All she needed was the ripped, blood-stained fragment of her shirt that was still hanging from the tree limb as a reminder that one second in these woods was a second too long, so she ran out just as fast as she came in.

On the train back to Hogwarts, Susan was very anxious. She knew that there would be repercussions for invading her mother's privacy, but in that same breath, she wasn't going to allow this to detour her from discovering the truth. She swallowed a breath, feeling more confrontational than ever before, and that was saying something. Alas, she knew she would have to stave it off until tomorrow after classes.

Thankfully, the moment for confrontation arrived sooner rather than later. Susan opened the door to Lupin's office. It wasn't very well kept, but Susan kind of expected that.

"Ah! Susan! Good afternoon! To what do I owe the pleasure of-"

"Save the warm welcomes, you lying bastard!"

"Excuse me?"

"Explain this!" Susan yelled angrily as she practically hurled the photo in Lupin's face. Lupin took the photo and examined it briefly, his face indicating that he had been caught like a little school girl the more he looked at it.

"Well?" Susan demanded angrily.

Before Lupin could untwist his tongue to speak, as he was obviously flustered and taken aback, Henkel came in and her loud obnoxious heels were clacking so much that both Lupin and Susan wondered why they didn't hear her coming down the hall.

"What's all the yelling about? Can't I grade papers in peace?" complained the Irish woman as she walked in, her face just as scarlet red as her hair.

"Susan, I'm your godfather."

Henkel's face became pale so fast and she looked so shocked it was a wonder she didn't pee herself. "Remus, what do you think you're-"

"She knows, Ezsmarelda," Lupin said, handing Henkel the photo, looking defeated.

"Is this some kind of prank?" Susan asked, more confused than ever.

"No, Susan. You see, your mother and I were good friends back in the day, when we were Hogwarts students ourselves. Naturally, I got along well with your father when he was dating her. So much so that he asked me to be his best man when he married your mother. The couple even asked me to be godfather to you sister when she was born. Naturally, when you were born, they asked for the very same."

Susan looked so shocked and dumbfounded that you could tell her that she was part serpent and she wouldn't have the same expression. "Well, what happened?!" she demanded, pressing further on.

"Well, your mother and I had a disagreement when you were about four years old and I erased your memory and your sister's memory. I ultimately decided I wasn't capable of being anyone's godfather." Lupin looked absolutely defeated, but he didn't really say that he and Henkel had a disagreement in a way that seemed believable.

Susan wasn't gonna be lied to. She was going to find out the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. "What really happened?" she asked.

"Susan, please! You really can't handle the truth! You won't ever think of me the same way ever again!" Lupin pleaded, trying to make the gryffindor drop it.

"Why? I'm not going to bite your head off! I just wanna know what happened!"

"No, Susan! I can't tell you! Just leave my office!"

"Leave your office? What for? Have I stepped out of some fucking line here?! You want me to shut up and go back to being your perfect little teacher's pet?!" Susan was so angry that her eyes were watering and her hair turned into a deeper shade of red than her mother's hair. Even her eyes were beginning to turn red.

"This is really not up for discussion," Lupin said coldly. "Please calm down, Susan. I-"

"MY NAME IS SUSANNAH! SUSANNAH BEATRICE HENKEL! IN CASE YOU'VE FORGOTTEN! THAT'S THE FULL NAME I WAS BORN WITH AND I'M YOUR GOD CHILD! I WANNA BE MORE THAN JUST THAT FREAK IN YOUR CLASS WHO LAUGHS ALL THE TIME AND CAN CHANGE HAIR COLOUR! AND I WANNA KNOW WHAT HAPPENED THAT MADE YOU WANT TO WALK AWAY FROM BEING MY GODFATHER! WHY DID YOU JUST LEAVE ME?!" At this point, Susan was hyperventilating, her eyes didn't even look human anymore and her had turned reddish-black.

"Please leave my office!"

"I'M NOT LEAVING UNTIL-"

"OUT!" Lupin had been trying to keep a hold on his temper, but it was something about saying her full name that set him off.

"FINE! I'LL JUST LEAVE AND NEVER COME BACK! PEOPLE LIKE YOU MAKE ME SICK! FUCK YOU BOTH!" Susan shouted, slamming the door behind her as she left.

Elsewhere, Katie Bell was casually playing hacky sack, excited about the next Qudditch match when she was approached by a sixth year slytherin girl with long, elegant greyish-blonde hair and deep-sea blue eyes. "Having fun, Gryffindork?" she spat out, rudely.

"As a matter of fact, Malfoy, I am!" Katie spat out back.

"Well, then. Between harassing my little brother and that stupid toy, what's more entertaining?" The slytherin asked with a sneer.

"Excuse me?!" Katie asked, nearly dropping her hacky sack.

"I saw the way you were talking to Draco," The slytherin girl said with a more smug expression.

"Listen here, Elizabeth! That little prick was trying to intimidate the entire team! I had to draw the line somewhere!"

"Well I hope it was worth it, because I'm going to tell Professor Dumbledore about your little secret and you'll be expelled."

Katie then pulled out her wand. "You wouldn't dare!"

"Oh, I would!"

The two then engaged in a fight which ended with both of them in the Hospital Wing with leeks growing from their ears.

Meanwhile, after about two hours and a good go at punching out Draco and his cronies, Susan began to feel guilt for her tirade in Lupin's office. She contemplated apology, but wasn't sure how to deliver. She sat on a rock in the courtyard to sort out her thoughts, but just her luck, before she could get her chance, she was approached by a husky black, floppy-eared dog. "Well, hello there," she said playfully. "Where did you come from?" She began to pet the dog and examined his neck to see if he was a stray. The sight of a collar, which was at first hidden by the thick black fur, proved he wasn't. Susan raised her eyebrow, as she thought this was an odd name for a dog. "Well then, Padfoot, are you lost? Should we go find your owner?"


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter XV: The Lost Dog

Susan fluffed the thick black fur of this beast. "I think you're in a really desperate need of a doggie bath," she said after sniffing his fur. "You don't smell all that good." Despite the strong wet dog odour coming from this canine, Susan didn't have a problem showing casual human to dog affection. The dog seemed to have a fair amount of returned affection, licking Susan's face and all. "Maybe Hagrid knows who you belong to," Susan muttered to herself. "I hope he's not still too broken up about Buckbeak..." she thought , when suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she could have sworn that she saw herself walking out of the castle hall. She did a double-take and realised it was only Mrs. Norris. "Well, I'd better get you to Hagrid's before I lose it." Susan stood up and gave a quick whistle, signalling Padfoot to follow her. She barely got ten paces out of the courtyard before she felt something on her shoulder and swiftly turned around. "Oh, it's only you. How are you, Luna?"

"I'm all right. I see you have a dog there."

"Yeah. I'm going over to Hagrid's to see who's dog it is."

"Oh. Good luck, then. Hagrid's feeling pretty down in the dumps. I'm sure he'll appreciate your company."

"Maybe you wanna tag along?"

"No. I have other things to tend to."

And with that, Luna walked away. Walked. She didn't skip like she normally did. In fact, Luna seemed uncharacteristically normal. Her voice didn't seem light and airy. It seemed loud and intrusive. She was even a little rude. On top of that, Luna would normally be very keen to go on these little adventures with Susan, in fact you could call her the sidekick, but she declined. Naturally this aroused Susan's suspicion.

Luna's behaviour stayed in Susan's mind the whole walk to Hagrid's hut. She knocked gently on the door, hearing sobbing the whole way to the door. "Poor guy," Susan thought. Hagrid opened the door and wiped his bushy face.

"Oh, 'ey there Susan. What can I do fer ya?"

"Hi Hagrid! I found this dog, and I was figuring, since you're so good with animals, maybe you could help me figure out who he belongs to?"

"Sure. Bring 'im in 'ere. I'd love teh see the feller."

"Okay, then!" Susan turned around and her face turned white. Padfoot was gone. "Where'd he go?" Susan whistled again and again until she saw Buckbeak in his bindings and her heart sank. Her facial expression was deeply sobered by the sight.

"Sad, in'nt it?" Hagrid asked, blubbering with his face buried in a cloth. "I've been tryin' ter make 'is last moments the best I can..."

Susan then gave Hagrid a hug. Well, it looked less like a hug and more like a man smothering a baby. Harid blubbered and blubbered in the span of that hug.

"Oh, Susan. Yer jus' like yer gran'mudder."

"My grandmum? She went to Hogwarts?" Susan asked, stepping inside.

"A'course she went ta Hogwarts!" Hagrid said, closing the door behind him. "She an' I even 'ad some classes t'gether."

"I didn't know you were that old."

"Heheh... Well I try ter take care o' myself."

"Hogwarts must have been amazing for you!"

"Well, er... My experience was... cut short."

"Cut short?"

"I was expelled in my third year. Got my wand broke in half an' all."

Susan was honestly shocked upon hearing this. Sure, Hagrid was a big guy, but he was sweet and gentle. Why would HE be expelled of all people? "Why? What happened?" she asked.

"Well, err... Oh! Look at the time. Yer really mus' be goin'!" Hagrid said, rushing Susan out the door.

Between Luna's behaviour and Hagrid just now throwing Susan out the door, a lot of red flags were raised. Why did a dog that Susan had never seen before just appear out of nowhere? Why was Luna behaving so normally? Why did was Lupin being so secretive about why he left? Why did Hagrid just kick Susan out when she asked about his expulsion?

Susan then felt something big and furry brush up against her leg. "Oh there you are, big guy!" There was Padfoot, in all his mangy-haired, tail-wagging glory. "Where did you get off to?" Susan asked playfully whilst fluffing his fur. Just then, Padfoot dropped a dog-slobbered Polaroid photo in Susan's lap. She then, gagging throughout, examined the photo. She noticed it was the same young Professor Lupin that she saw in her mum's wedding photo. "Is this your owner?" Susan asked. Padfoot barked affirmatively, much to Susan's shock. "I didn't even know Professor Lupin had a dog..." Susan thought as she contemplated how she was going to apologise for that scene she had made in Lupin's office. She whistled for the dog to follow her and decided that the only way she was going to be able to apologise was to just wing it and do it.

Once Susan was in front of the door, she found herself unable to knock on it. Her knuckles froze right in front of it, and eventually she turned around. "I can't do this. He probably hates my guts after what I said." Just when Susan geared up to walk away, Padfoot began scratching on the office door. "No! Padfoot! Don't! Bad dog!" Susan said as she began pulling the dog by his collar. Before she could get one step away from the door, she saw it unlock and froze. She decided to let the dog go and stood up. Once the door opened, Lupin looked more tired and defeated than usual and had fresh scratch wounds on his face, which, come to think of it, Susan was far too irate to notice when she first came into his office. Either way, Susan was at a complete loss for words.

"Padfoot! There you are! I was so worried!" Lupin said, reaching out to pet him.

"Professor Lupin?"

Nothing.

"P-professor?"

Nothing. He just kept mollycoddling the damn dog. It was like Susan didn't even exist.

"Professor, I'm sorry for being a douche!"

"I'm not the one you should be apologising to," he finally said. "Your mother has gone through a massive ordeal of stress because of the miscarriage and she's been shut up in her office all day because of your little tantrum."

"I had no idea..."

"Maybe you should be more mindful of your actions. There are two sides to every story, but you only ever think of yourself."

"That's not true..." Susan pleaded, with her voice was cracking the whole time.

"Don't start with the fake tears. I'm still very angry with you."

"I..."

Before Susan could say another word, the door was shut in her face, and her face was left to erupt in mucus and tears. She then bolted through the halls and down the stairs, wailing and howling the whole time. She nearly tripped going down a staircase. Susan balled up in a corner, the only bright side of this was that she could finally be left to her thoughts. She'd never thought about how the whole miscarriage ordeal had been for her mother, but hearing Lupin say what he said made sense. It's a wonder her mother didn't have a heart attack then and there. "It's all my fault... I'll never forgive myself... Never ever ever ever..." Susan said as she cried more and more. She thought about all the hissy fits she's had and how they've affected her mum. The only reason she was giving it any thought was because Lupin had said what he said. That cold stare in his eyes. Susan thought it almost impossible that such a nice guy could turn so sour. She cried bitterly as the thoughts continued to float around in her head, which was sunken into her knees. At least until she felt something moist against her cheek. She looked up and saw Padfoot happily wagging his tail. He licked Susan's face again and again. "Gah! Okay, you have my attention! You must be a puppy, to want all this attention. Pretty big, for a puppy, though." Padfoot then dropped a ball in front of Susan.

"Padfoot, I don't feel like playing catch."

Padfoot began to whine and lean into his paws.

"Padfoot, no. Bad dog."

More whining and begging.

"Ask Professor Lupin to play catch with you. He's your owner."

Padfoot then pressed his front paws against Susan's legs, nearly knocking her down from his size alone, and continued to beg.

"Oh all right! But only because you're so damn cute!" Susan gagged as she picked up the slobbered ball and hurled it to the other side of the hall.

Padfoot returned it eagerly and this exchange went on for nearly three minutes before Susan felt an icy chill rush down her neck and down her spine. She had recognised this cold sensation all too well and knew all too well that a dememtor was behind her. She didn't even have to turn around and look just to make sure that it wasn't an odd shift in the wind because Padfoot had sprinted up the stairs.

Between feeling the chill down her neck and deciding what to do, it took her just about a slit second to dash up the stairs as fast as her legs could carry her. She just kept running and running like a bat out of hell until she felt a sharp smack against the body stop her and she was thrown to the ground. "Shit!" she ejaculated, hitting her head.

"Damn it! Watch where you're going, Henkel!" shouted a harsh voice that Susan recognised immediately, and sure enough, there was Snape, towering above the girl with his narrowed piercing black eyes.

"I was just chased down by a fucking dementor! Watching where I'm going is like the least of my priorities! Those guys scare the living hell out of me!" Susan said examining the floor, looking for her dropped glasses.

"You're more trouble than you're worth..." Snape muttered, gathering the shuffled papers that Susan made him drop by bumping into him.

Susan's eyes were squinted as she looked more desperately for glasses that she didn't even know were right in front of her. "Damn dementors scaring the holy ghost outta me..." she muttered, somehow still missing her glasses.

Snape reached down and put her glasses back on her face. Before Susan could question his uncharacteristic kindness, he reached his hand out to help the girl up.

"Why are you being nice to me?" Susan said, getting up without accepting Snape's help.

Snape curled his lips into his trademark smirk. "I assure you, merely scaring you is hardly the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what these dementors are capable of. I won't say much. I'll only say, that your fear of them is perfectly justified. These creatures do far more than just bring up a few bad memories," Snape said, leaning on his every word in such a way that sent chills up Susan's spine.

"Do more?" Susan said, unable to keep a leash on her curiosity.

"Just think about it for a moment. These dementors are here because a dangerous killer escaped from Azkaban. This is the only known escape from that prison. Dumbledore wants them as far away from the school as possible. Why would all of these measures be taken, unless the dementors were capable of doing something quite horrible?"

"What do they do?!" Susan asked anxiously, heedless of how disturbing the answer might be.

"I trust you've heard of the dementor's kiss?"

There was a pause. "No, I haven't, actually." She said after a moment.

"Oh? I thought you would have, as fast as you were running away."

"What's the Dementor's kiss?"

"It's an instance in which the dementor locks jaws with it's victim and proceeds to literally suck out his or her soul. Quite horrible actually."

"And then the person dies?" Susan asked, shaking in horror, hoping that was the answer.

"No, but perhaps you'll wish you had. The dementor's kiss leaves you in what muggles call a 'persistent vegetative state' which means that you don't move, eat, sleep or even breathe. You're no longer human. You're just an organic mass taking up space."

Susan was absolutely shaken to the core upon hearing this. It was then very apparent to her why Dumbledore wanted them as far away from the students as possible. Her whole face, eyes and hair had turned completely white. "B-but... I'm not Sirius Black... s-s-so they won't c-come after me, r-r-r-right?" she said, trembling.

Snape said absolutely nothing. Not a word. He just stood there smirking.

"Right?!"

"Dementors don't know the difference between students and Azkaban escapees. All they know is misery, pain and death."

This had Susan shaken to the core. There was a very real chance that she could have been nothing more than a vegetable for the third time. She still felt the chills and shivers from her encounters. She could scarcely feel her breath. She had fallen on her knees, gasping for air.

"Henkel, stop that. You're overreacting," Snape said, preparing to grab the girl. Before he could, though, Padfoot began barking and snarling at the potions professor and even tore off part of his garment, before Snape walked off, thoroughly and royally brassed off by the outcome of his encounter. "25 points from Gryffindor!" he shouted walking away.

Susan threw up again and again. The entire room was spinning. She had no idea a dementor was capable of doing something so horrible. All the worst things that Susan could remember began to resurface. Things that Susan had left behind years ago. Though it was in no particular order, it wasn't any less terrible to remember.

"We're losing her, Doctor."

"How could you betray our marriage?!"

"She's not gonna make it..."

Susan held her head with her knees buckled on the ground. "SHUT UP!" she yelled hysterically before vomiting again. Finally, Susan could take no more and blacked out.

When she woke up, she was on a very shabby cot that looked slightly torn on the edges and even had holes in it. It and the blanket that covered her smelt like cigarettes. Susan rubbed her eyes and pushed her bangs out of her face, feeling around for any sort of night stand that might have her glasses on them. After a good fifteen minutes of feeling around, she found them on the floor next to the cot. After putting her glasses on, Susan crawled out of the cot. Her head was still spinning, but she managed to make it to the door. She sat down to recuperate and observed her surroundings. Given how shabby everything looked, she had inferred that she was in Professor Lupin's office, but she wasn't quite sure. The smell of cigarettes threw her off quite a bit. She put her head against the door in exasperation. "Where the hell am I?" she moaned. Susan then heard garbled talk, so she put her ear up against the door where her head was in an effort to identify the hushed whispers.

"She's still fast asleep?"

"Like a baby."

"Damn. Snivellus sure is a jerk. Doing that to a poor little girl..."

"Sirius, knock it off."

"Merlin's beard, Remus! Don't say it so loud! You want me to get the Dementor's kiss?"

"We agreed that we'd leave that tomfoolery behind us when-"

"Don't say it, okay? You're right. I know... I'm sorry."

Susan could hardly believe her ears. She couldn't even believe the fact that there was nothing separating her from a dangerous killer other than a wooden door, and to make matters worse, her former godfather was his ally. Susan cracked the door open just a sliver to see for herself if this was really happening. Sure enough, there was Lupin, shabby-clad and all and then to his to his right was a man with long thick black hair, sunken in eyes and a waxy rugged face. Susan closed the door and examined her surroundings in the room. She saw a window just below the roof, stacked a chair on a desk and made her escape. "OW GOD!" she yelled falling on the grass on the other side. "Shit..." she muttered as her mind began to run rampant with assumptions of why Remus abandoned his duties as her godfather. Perhaps Remus knew what trouble he was getting himself into by befriending a killer and was concerned about the safety of her and her family, maybe her mum found out and sent him away. While she was in the hall, she began to wonder why it hadn't occurred to her to simply beat up Sirius. It would have made it easier for ministry executives to apprehend him and she could have taken her revenge by beating up Lupin, too. Before this train of thought could go any further, Susan saw Harry bolting through the crowd, surrounded by fellow Gryffindors. "What the heck is going on?" she asked Oliver Wood.

"Susan! Just the person I wanted to see! Can you stand guard while Harry checks on his Firebolt? Great! Thanks!"

"Wait! What? I don't even know what's going on!"

"You do, now!"

"Hey! Wait a minute! I have something important to tell Professor Dumbledore! I don't have time for trivial pursuits!"

"I'm sure it can wait!"

"As a matter of fact, it's a life or death situation, so I need to-"

"Dumbledore doesn't care what some eleven-year-old has to say. If it's that important, someone else probably already told him. Besides, you owe me after rooting for Hufflepuff during the winter match!" Oliver said, dismissing her with Harry.

With no other option, Susan begrudgingly accompanied Harry to the commons where he saw his Firebolt was in good shape. "Everything is good? I can go now?" she asked.

"Fine. Go," Harry said, begrudgingly.

With that, Susan left. She bolted out of the common room, still intent on telling Dumbledore what she saw. She suddenly felt something lick her leg. "Oh, hey, Padfoot!" Susan said.

Padfoot pounced on Susan and proceeded to slobber all over her.

"Ewww! No! Bad dog!" Susan said, covering her face with her hands.

Padfoot sat on his hindquarters and whined, looking up at Susan with his big black eyes.

"Well you can't slobber all over me! That's gross! I love dogs and all, but that's where I draw the bleedin' line!"

Padfoot rested his hands on his paws and continued to look up at Susan and whine.

"Okay, fine..."

Padfoot could have killed Susan the way he pounced on her next. He began to lick her furiously. Eventually, he got up after Susan was practically covered in dog slobber.

"Ugh... Let's just get to Dumbledore's office so that I can shower after..." Susan said, wincing.

Susan wasted no time getting to Dumbledore's office.

"Password?" The portrait asked.

"Oh Goddamn it! I forgot!"

"You must have a password or I can't let you through."

"Come on! This is a life or death situation!"

"Oh, hello, Susan." said a man with a long silver beard and matching hair and half-moon glasses standing behind Susan.

"Professor Dumbledore, I need to speak to you immediately!"

"Haha... Well then. Come on in," Dumbledore said, walking up to the portrait. "Custard Strawberry." And just like that, the portrait swung back and Dumbledore gestured for Susan to go in. "After you."

Susan walked in and Dumbledore closed the portrait behind him.

"Have a seat,"Dumbledore said, gesturing to a chair before sitting in his own.

"Thank you," Susan said, taking a seat.

"Would you like a bon-bon?" Dumbledore said, offering one.

"Thanks but no thanks. I've come to you with a very serious matter," Susan said, bluntly.

"You're surprisingly well mannered and articulate for an 11-year-old."

"I'm 12, you arrogant bastard!" Susan thought, but didn't say. The last thing she wanted to do as a first year was get expelled. So instead, she said, "If you don't mind, I spotted Sirius Black in Remus Lupin's office. I think he's collaborating with him to kill Harry."

Dumbledore then busted into the loudest most hearty laughter Susan had ever heard. She was honestly shocked that such an old man could laugh so heartily.

"And what do you have to base this on?" Dumbledore asked, adjusting his half-moon glasses once he collected himself.

"How about the fact that I saw Sirius Black in Professor Lupin's office shooting the breeze with him!"

"Of course you did," Dumbledore said calmly and dismissive.

"I did!" Susan cried indignantly.

"No, I believe you. Perhaps what you saw was a boggart. It would make sense. A boggart shape shifts into what you're most afraid of, and I'll admit, the wanted posters make Sirius look incredibly frightening."

"But that can't be! I saw Professpr Lupin's boggart! it turned into a-"

Dumbledore started to chuckle. "Surely you don't think that one's boggart stays the same their whole life, do you?" He asked.

"I'd like to think it doesn't change within the span of a few months! Especially when he's never left the damn castle! And I doubt he'd be talking so casually to his fucking boggart!"

"Now now. There's no need to use that kind of language. Do you honestly think that Sirius would be able to bypass the dementors?"

"Well... no," Susan said, shuddering and shivering at the thought of the dementors.

"Then there's nothing to worry about," Dumbledore said reassuringly.

"Well, how long did he spend is Azkaban?"

"He was first sent there in 1982, I believe."

"Well don't you think that's plenty of time to figure out a way past the dementors?"

"One does not simply bypass dementors, Susan. There's only one way to defend yourself against a dementor, and Sirius Black's wand was snapped in half before he was sent to Azkaban. Therefore, even if he were in the castle, he would be unable to hurt anyone."

"Ron said that he saw-"

"I'm aware, Susan. Minerva told me," Dumbledore said, pushing back his half-moon glasses.

"Look you old, shrivelled up waste of sperm!" Susan said grabbing Dumbledore's long silver beard. "I know what I saw! Now quit dicking around and do something about it! Preferably before all of your students are murdered!"

"Oh, there's no need to worry about that. My students are not in any kind of danger," Dumbledore said, chucking.

Susan was shocked that she wasn't expelled on the spot for what she just did, but within the blink of an eye, Dumbledore's beard was no longer in her hand.

"Awww. Susan, I didn't know you had a dog. What's his name?"

Susan was now completely shocked. Did Dumbledore just forget that Susan grabbed his beard and spat all kinds of curses at him? "He's not my dog. He's Professor Lupin's dog. His name is Padfoot. He just follows me around for some reason," Susan said, still flabbergasted.

"Maybe he likes you. Animals have a funny way of connecting with people and making friends."

"I actually had a dog when I was a little girl."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I had to give him away after my parents got divorced. Mum's new hubby wasn't too fond of pets."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. I guess it's a moot point, though. My parents got remarried again not long before I turned 11. They're not living together again or anything. Mum still lives with her ex-husband. Wait. Why am I telling you all of this?"

"Sometimes when we've been holding things in forever, we just want to let them go. What was your stepfather like?"

"You know, I don't remember. I've only met the guy once, and I was like 5 or 6 at the time."

"Haha... Sometimes it's easy to forget things that happened so long ago."

"I guess."

"Well, you should probably get going. I have things to attend to if I'm going to have everything done in time for the Quidditch Match."

"Oh right! Sorry to bother you Professor!"

"No worries."

"See you around!" Susan said, as Dumbledore easily side-tracked her into leaving.

Back at the common room, people were giving Susan weird looks.

"I saw you being followed by the Grim!" Lavender finally said.

"The what?" Susan asked

"The big black dog," Dean clarified.

"You mean Padfoot?" Susan asked.

"That thing has a name?" Parvarti asked, shocked.

"Well, yeah. He's Professor Lupin's dog," Susan said.

"You've got death on your back, Suzy," Lavender said, shaking her head.

"DON'T! FUCKING! CALL! ME! SUZY!" Susan said, banging her fist on the table, frightening everyone else before bolting out of the common room and into her dorm. "I'm going to bed. Don't fucking wake me up!"

Now, you can be sure that nobody bothered to wake her up for the Quidditch Match. Thankfully, because she went to bed right after dinner, she was wide awake at around 5 am the next morning. Hermione was still fast asleep. Susan crept out of the dorm and peered into the common room, where she saw Harry drinking a glass of water. Susan had developed a sort of fondness for him that she couldn't explain. Her face blushed red and her heart would beat faster when she saw him and yet, outside of a few instances, he hardly knew her. "How can I change that?" she thought. Her face flushed with red and she kissed the doorway and her hair turned pink as she could have sworn her heart skipped a beat. Truthfully, her infatuation with Harry was a secret. Albeit, a not very well kept one. She didn't want others to know she had a vulnerable spot. To her, her size and physical immaturity alone made her out to be a target. Being prematurely born has always been a psychological handicap for her more than a physical one. Everyone called her Suzy when she was little, but recently, she just couldn't tolerate it. She wanted to make it a point that she was a grown-up, even though she was only 10 years old when she decided she wouldn't go by that anymore. She gently laid her head where she had kissed the doorway and looked onward at the boy longingly.

Suddenly, she saw him snatch his glasses and run back into his commons. She swooped back into her dorm and hid behind the wall, fearing the boy had seen her. She developed a terrible and unshakeable sinking feeling. Perhaps Harry would think differently of her. He would think she was a stalker. She had been caught like a bloody school girl. Her hair turned white as her stomach kept turning and turning. Her heart sunk for a moment and then returned to palpitating, only not in the same pleasant love struck way she felt before. Her heart was pounding with anxiety. After a few moments, she peered to make sure he was gone and went to get some water herself. She looked out the window and felt something tug at her gown. It was Marty. The kitten mewed quietly and looked up at Susan. Susan picked up the feline and held him gently in her arms. She once again peered out the window and saw Crookshanks with Padfoot. "What are they doing out?" she thought to herself. "I suppose they're out for a midnight stroll," she said, trying to soothe herself with her sarcastic wit. "Maybe they'll have tea and cakes while they're at it," she said, stifling a few chuckles. She looked out the window again and noticed they were gone. "No use trying to go back to bed after that mess," she thought to herself. She went up to her dorm and dressed for the day. Then she sneaked out of the commons as quiet as a mouse. She walked among the halls quietly in an attempt to clear her head. The simple truth of the matter was Susan's thinking was very muddy. Being short with others, cursing, not thinking things through and having a flaring temper was a result of frustration from not being able to have an effective thought process. Perhaps her insecurities and need for attention are what prevent her from being able to think. Nevertheless, she hoped her early day walks could clear her thoughts. Somehow, the gentle wind whistling in the halls soothed her spirits. Susan then came across professor Lupin's office, and the temptation overcame her. She took out her wand and used one of the only charms spells she could successfully perform. She wasn't that great in charms, though FIllus Flitwick continued to hold out hope for her, believing she'll eventually improve.

"Alohamora," she whispered. The lock clicked open and she walked inside. She quietly went into the desk, slowly opened the drawer and saw the parchment that was unmistakably the Marauder's Map. She gently grabbed it, careful not to make a sound and reorganised everything, careful to erase all evidence of her being there. Once she was on the courtyard, she sat on the grass and could feel the dew beneath her. She took out her want and hissed "I solemnly wear I'm up to no good." Though Susan had previously thought the Marauder's Map was rubbish, in light of the recent discovery that Professor Lupin is her godfather, she knew this map could be hiding just about anything, and at this point, she couldn't take any chances. She looked at the map and awaited for the names of others to appear. Eventually, she saw the name Sirius Black on the map and jumped up, whipping her wand out. "Come on out, you cowardly pissbag!" Susan called, unconscious of the fact that she could have easily aroused Filch's attention by doing so. She saw the name Sirius Black moving toward Susan Beatrice Henkel on the map. Susan clenched her wand tightly, preparing for a possible confrontation. She rolled up the map, knowing if she let her guard down, Sirius would probably kill her. She felt the footsteps advance toward her and became more and more frightened. Before she could do anything, though, she felt a black figure pounce on her. She could have sworn she felt human legs pin her down and a human hand try to cover her mouth. "TAKE THIS, YOU BLIMEY COCKSUCKER!" she yelled, smacking the figure in the face. The figure drew back and whined in pain. Susan knew this wasn't a human that she had hit. She rubbed her eyes and noticed it was Padfoot. "Oh my goodness! Padfoot I'm so sorry!" she said, running up to him, but the dog growled and snarled when Susan reached to pet him. "Padfoot-"

Padfoot barked viciously and bit Susan's arm. Susan yelped in pain and grabbed her arm, looking onward as the angry dog walked away. Looking at her arm, Susan had one thing made up in her mind. She would never hit an animal ever again. She saw the Marauder's map on the ground. "This stupid piece of shit ruined my fucking life!" she yelled picking it up. True as it was that it had only gotten her into trouble so far, perhaps there was more than meets the eye to this mystery. Without giving it another thought, though, she crumpled the parchment and threw it on the ground, hoping someone would come along and toss it.

At the Quidditch match, Susan was fairly withdrawn. She was worried of what Lupin would think of her smacking Padfoot in the face. Considering he was shooting the breeze with Sirius Black, that could be bad news for her. "Good luck, Harry!" she heard someone say. She looked over. It was Cho Chang. She then saw Harry blushing. "Don't you have a boyfriend or something? Step off my man!" she thought. Susan wore red to support her house, but didn't feel much like cheer-leading.

Lee Jordan was trying to make commentary for the game but was drowned out by "boos" from the Slytherin side. Already on edge, this was really getting on her nerves.

"And here come the Slytherin team, led by Captain Flint. He's made some changes in the lineup and seems to be going for size rather than skill —"

"BOO! YOU STINK! BRING ON THE SLYTHERINS!" Pansy shrieked.

"Hey can you guys shut the fuck up?! Some of us are trying to enjoy the game!" Susan finally yelled, standing perched in the stadium for good measure.

The Slytherins fell silent immediately. Snape glared at Susan as if to say "You're in trouble."

Gryffindor had the upper hand during the match. So much so that Slytherin decided to play dirty, which was not making Lee happy. He was yelling and cursing over it. When Flint scored the point, Lee gave a loud "THAT'S BULLSHIT! CHEATER!" and when Draco recieved a penalty for grabbing Harry's broom, Lee yelled, YOU CHEATING SCUM! YOU FILTHY, CHEATING BASTARD!" Susan was shocked to hear someone other than herself cursing so much.

Eventually, Slytherin gained the upper hand, but not for very long, thanks to Harry.

Naturally, Gryffindor won the match. Watching everyone else cheer around her, she figured she may as well cheer with them and enjoy that victory before Sirius Black skins her alive. "YEAH! EAT DICK, SLYTHERIN! YOU SUCK! FUCK YEAH! EAT MY SHIT!" Susan was making a spectacle of herself leaving the stadium. She kept cheering "Gryffindor rules! Slytherin drools!" over and over again.

After about an hour of it, Hermione was annoyed. "When are you going to stop saying that?!" she asked.

"When it gets on everyone's nerves," Susan retorted.

"That was an hour ago."

"Oh. Well I don't care! Gryffindor rules! Slytherin drools! Gryffindoor rules! Slytherin-"

"ENOUGH!"

"Okay, jeez! You don't have to be a bitch about it, Mione!"

Hermione decided simply to roll her eyes and walk away before she would say something she truly regrets.

"Henkel," demanded a voice from behind.

"Professor Snake," Susan said, turning around.

"It's Snape."

"Yes. Snape the Snake."

"Name calling will only add to your punishment," he said in a matter of fact way.

"Punishment?"

"Surely you didn't think such blatant utilisation of the F-word would go unpenalised, did you?"

"What's the big deal? It doesn't hurt anybody! Fuck! Fuckity! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

"You have just tripled your punishment."

"WHAT?!" Susan interjected, her hair turning bright red in anger.

"Your original punishment was detention and 25 points from Gryffindor. Name calling made that double detention and 50 points from Gryffindor and now you have triple detention, lost 75 house points and will write an essay consisting of five-thousand words telling me why it's important to keep a clean mouth. Perhaps you'll learn something."

"But-"

"Would you like to make that ten-thousand words?"

"Quit while you're ahead, Henkel," snarked Draco. "You don't even know ten thousand words."

"Go fuck yourself, Malfoy!"

"Ten-thousand words, it is, then." Snape said, walking away.

Susan was so angry that she kicked the castle wall. The Weasley twins saw this and came to her comfort.

"Don't worry, Susan," said Fred, putting his arm around her.

"He's just being more of a git than usual because Gryffindor won," George said, putting his arm around her as well.

"We'll get him back for ya," they both declared.

"Oh, you guys are simply the best!" Susan said hugging them.

As she walked away with the Weasley twins discussing means of revenge, she had forgotten all about smacking Padfoot and what would possibly come of it.


End file.
